Telecom and networking trends for 2016

820 Comments

1. September 12, 2016 at 12:18 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   De-embed transmission lines with FIR filters
   http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4439110/De-embed-transmission-lines-with-FIR-filters?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20160912&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20160912&elqTrackId=8f048990c36c4eadb12921927337fd66&elq=af5594a4c4a943108009c03be5a6fc4c&elqaid=33810&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=29551

   Serial data out of networking SERDES have reached rates as high as 28Gbps and are continuously evolving. At such high data rates, even small PCB traces act as transmission lines, degrading the signal integrity through attenuation and dispersion. It is difficult to monitor the SERDES transmitter output right at the chip balls. Usually, the signal will be brought to an SMA or SMP connector to be monitored by oscilloscope. However, the signal characteristics change due to the transmission line present between the IC and the connector. The challenge is to monitor the signal performance at SERDES pins, and this can be accomplished by de-embedding the effect of the trace. This Design Idea describes a methodology to de-embed the transmission line.

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2. September 12, 2016 at 12:37 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Ericsson: 5G technology will revolutionize business models

   Ericsson believes that telecommunications equipment manufacturers to revolutionize business models 5G technologies, as well as to improve the innovation performance of firms in many different sectors. The company’s recent report by the vast majority of decision-makers in various fields will make a 5G networks when major changes in the companies’ business models.

   Ericsson’s “Opportunities in 5G: The view from the eight industries” report also says that accelerate the business strategy changes, above all, disruptive technologies. Among other things, communication between machines, broadband, cloud services and mobile devices are highlighted as key changes in technology.

   “IoT and 5G technologies enabling completely new business models and affect the entire society.”

   5G will change *

   Automotive: efficient and secure networks for our future cars
   Electricity networks: lower costs and a safer environment
   General Security: Experiences and protection of citizens will improve
   Manufacturing: high productivity 5G’s help
   Digi-term corporate services: Building customer loyalty
   Health care: 5G improve the quality of life
   Financials: 5G of the higher productivity and customer satisfaction
   Media and game industry: 5G’s help really living experience

   Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/09/12/ericsson-5g-teknologia-mullistaa-liiketoimintamallit/

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3. September 12, 2016 at 3:51 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Ethernet Alliance Plugfest confirms 100% interoperability of IEEE 802.3 PoE products under stress conditions
   http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/09/ea-poe-confirm.html

   Held March 25-31, 2016, at UNH-IOL’s state-of-the-art lab, the Ethernet Alliance’s interoperability test event attracted a range of equipment and technology vendors. Their devices were tested in accordance with two previously released IEEE 802.3 PoE specifications, IEEE 802.3af 1 and IEEE 802.3at 2, against a variety of scenarios, including increased stress conditions.

   “The plugfest showed that there is clearly market enthusiasm for standards-based PoE interoperability,”

   The event demonstrated IEEE 802.3-based PoE interoperability among devices from Brocade, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Linear Technology, Microsemi, and Texas Instruments. All product combinations were shown to interoperate “over the worst-case Cat 5e cabling,” reports the Ethernet Alliance. In addition, all tested devices were shown to pass 99 percent of test cases related to standards conformance.

   http://www.ethernetalliance.org/

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4. September 13, 2016 at 4:25 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
   Netflix asked FCC to declare broadband data caps unreasonable in filing last week, saying a 300GB cap would not meet the internet TV needs of average Americans

   Netflix asks FCC to declare data caps “unreasonable”
   FCC should use broadband deployment power to discourage data caps, Netflix says.
   http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/netflix-asks-fcc-to-declare-data-caps-unreasonable/

   Netflix has asked the US Federal Communications Commission to declare that home Internet data caps are unreasonable and that they limit customers’ ability to watch online video.

   Netflix submitted a filing last week for the FCC’s annual investigation of broadband deployment, a review that is mandated by Congress in Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. Specifically, Congress requires the FCC to determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion and “take immediate action” to accelerate deployment if it’s not happening to the commission’s satisfaction.

   The commission’s assessment generally focuses on availability and speed, but Netflix wants the commission to add data caps to the mix. “Data caps (especially low data caps) and usage-based pricing (‘UBP’) discourage a consumer’s consumption of broadband, and may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like,” Netflix wrote.

   Such a declaration wouldn’t require ISPs to eliminate data caps, but it could pressure ISPs to eliminate the caps or at least offer more data before charging overage fees.

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5. September 13, 2016 at 7:38 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Photonics Moves Closer To Chip
   http://semiengineering.com/photonics-moves-closer-to-chip/

   Government, private funding ramps up as semiconductor industry looks for faster low-power solutions.

   Silicon photonics is resurfacing after more than a decade in the shadows, driven by demands to move larger quantities of data faster, using extremely low power and with minimal heat.

   Until recently, much of the attention in photonics focused on moving data between servers and storage. Now there is growing interest at the PCB level and in heterogeneous multi-chip packages. Government, academic and and commercial investments in this technology are all on the rise, and there is a renewed sense of optimism that this technology will become useful across more markets and applications.

   “In the early 2000s there was a lot of energy being put into photonics,” said Gnyaneshwar Ramakrishna, chairman of the photonics technical committee for IEEE’s Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society. “That died down for a while. But now that we’re able to show speeds of 25 Gbps to 100 Gbps, photonics is coming back in a big way. It’s being used for short reach and long reach in data centers, and we’re seeing a need for photonics at the modular level. We are working on how to bring it onto a board. There is, finally, so to speak, a light at the end of the tunnel.”

   The ecosystem appears to be firmly on board, though. “Silicon photonics will be a $33 billion to $35 billion industry,” said Sanjay Jha, CEO of GlobalFoundries, during a recent speech. “There will be a dramatic increase. It will be used for all the data in cars and connectivity between racks of servers. There will be a seamless distribution of processing in the data center.”

   The goal of all of these efforts is to eke efficiencies and economies of scale out of silicon photonics, as the semiconductor industry did with digital logic and memory using Moore’s Law as a guide. Silicon photonics is viewed as a way of moving more data more efficiently, and even more securely, but the price has to drop significantly for it to reach a broader audience.

   For processors to utilize photonics, optical signals need to be converted to electrical signals. Research is underway to process and store optical signals, sidestepping that entire conversion process, but most experts believe it will be years before a solution is ready, and even then it’s questionable whether it will be cost-effective.

   At this point, the three leaders in this field are Cisco, Intel and IBM. Of the three, only Cisco is shipping the technology in quantity in a variety of devices.

   Optical to electrical, and back again
   Converting signals takes energy and time. The electro-optical conversion process requires modulation of an RF signal onto the output of a laser diode, and then a receiver to convert the signal back to electrical.

   Inside of data centers, the signal can be carried by an optical fiber cable. The same idea works for a 2.5D package, where one die is electrical and the other is optical. So far, an entire system that incorporates electrical and optical has not been commercially available on a single die, and it doesn’t appear likely anytime soon. There is even debate about whether a 2.5D chip using optics and standard electronics will outperform one built with existing CMOS.

   “Right now it doesn’t make sense on a die,” said Drew Wingard, CTO of Sonics. “It probably will not beat the performance of electrical connections in a package.”

   There are several basic components involved in silicon photonics. One is a waveguide, which is the equivalent of a switch in the electrical world. The second is a splitter, also known as a multiplexer (mux) or demultiplexer (demux). The third is a coupling mechanism, to get the photons off a chip.

   Building photonics into chips
   At the chip level, the first implementations will be die-to-die within a package using an interposer, most likely using one chip for photonics and another for standard electronic processing and routing. The opto-electric conversion will happen either before it crosses into a standard silicon interposer, or after the signals reach the other side using an optical interposer.

   “Silicon photonics is certainly very interesting to fabless companies because it’s an extension of what they’re already doing,” said Gilles Lamant, distinguished engineer at Cadence. “But for fabs, unless they have an SOI process in place, they’re out of luck.”

   Layout is indeed one of the big changes, and where EDA companies are focusing their efforts. “Topologically, you need to connect everything together with wave guides,”

   There are other unique considerations in silicon photonics, as well. One involves connectivity through the wave guide. Interferometers are commonly used in these kinds of devices to split beams, and each of those beams must then be reflected back toward the beam splitter, which then combines their amplitudes. That means five components within a circuit that most chip engineers normally don’t encounter.

   Phase shifting of signals is another option, using ring modulators. By using a balanced PN junction and applying an electrical field, those signals can be modulated and controlled. And with interferometers, signals can be brought together in-phase or out of phase, which provides even more possibilities.

   In fact, one of the key drivers behind an all-optical device is that whenever electronic components are involved, they invariably slow down on-chip and off-chip communication and computation. An all optical device would be virtually unlimited in terms of compute power, by today’s standards

   “Right now, this is all gated by the electrical side,” said Cisco’s Patel. “An optical IC at some point has to deal with an electrical signal and the rate at which you can switch electrical. What will happen from here is we will extend the boundary of optical. Optical processing at this point is expensive. It’s not a CMOS cost structure. But as the cost of structures comes down and key issues are resolved, that will change. The long march has started. We will move from electrical interposers to electro-optical interposers.”

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6. September 13, 2016 at 8:23 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Web Giants Drive Optical Nets
   Microsoft, Facebook push separate efforts
   http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330437&

   Web giants are calling for a new class of 400 Gbit/second coherent “lite” optics for next-generation data centers. They also want to break into smaller, more competitive chunks today’s vertically integrated optical transport systems for core networks.

   The news is another example of the rising power of companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google who are increasingly driving the technology agenda in networking. Their massive data centers are driven by growing numbers of users and their media requirements in a race to see who can handle more services for more users.

   Optical specialists from Microsoft’s Azure group have been asking vendors for 400G coherent optics that could be plugged into a server like the 100G QSFP28 transceivers starting to go into their new deployments today. The devices should be optimized for distances of tens of kilometers, consume less than 20W and cost an order of magnitude less than current products.

   The lower costs can come in part from dropping support for distances of hundreds of kilometers required for use in undersea cables. Such products today sometimes require cabinets full of power-hungry electronics.

   “We’ve been communicating this and I think they have heard us,” said Tom Issenhuth, an optical network architect for Microsoft Azure.

   Azure and others are just starting to use in their top-of-rack switches 100G optical transceivers in the QSFP28 form factor from multiple suppliers. The products are based on specifications Web giants such as Facebook helped define.

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7. September 13, 2016 at 2:51 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   OIF physical layer working group launches 100G serial electrical links project
   http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/08/oif-100g-serial.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_DataCenters_September132016&eid=289644432&bid=1524176

   In the wake of its 3rd quarter meeting, the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) announced that it has begun work on its 100G Serial Electrical Link project.

   “The very short reach (VSR) CEI-112G chip-to-module interface project is aimed at meeting the most immediate needs of the industry, with both shorter and longer reach projects expected to follow,” said an OIF statement. “CEI-112G-VSR will support a nominal lane rate of 112 Gb/s, enabling narrower interfaces to optical modules, and is expected to be more energy efficient than previous interfaces. The CEI-112G-VSR specification doubles data rates over the current generation CEI-56G-VSR interfaces.”

   “Optical lane speeds have run faster than electrical lane speeds since the introduction of 10G Ethernet. While this is not a problem in the early days of a new data rate, the lowest module cost is achieved when optical and electrical lane speeds are the same,” points out Dale Murray, principal analyst with LightCounting Market Research. “The first optical modules running 100 Gb/s serial are expected in 2018, so now is the time for the OIF to begin work on this CEI-112G project.”

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8. September 14, 2016 at 5:39 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Bruce Schneier / Lawfare:
   Companies running critical Internet infrastructure are observing recent probe-like DDoS attacks at a scale that points to state actors, likely China or Russia

   Someone Is Learning How to Take Down the Internet
   https://www.lawfareblog.com/someone-learning-how-take-down-internet

   Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet. These probes take the form of precisely calibrated attacks designed to determine exactly how well these companies can defend themselves, and what would be required to take them down. We don’t know who is doing this, but it feels like a large a large nation state. China and Russia would be my first guesses.

   First, a little background. If you want to take a network off the Internet, the easiest way to do it is with a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS). Like the name says, this is an attack designed to prevent legitimate users from getting to the site. There are subtleties, but basically it means blasting so much data at the site that it’s overwhelmed. These attacks are not new: hackers do this to sites they don’t like, and criminals have done it as a method of extortion. There is an entire industry, with an arsenal of technologies, devoted to DDoS defense.

   Recently, some of the major companies that provide the basic infrastructure that makes the Internet work have seen an increase in DDoS attacks against them. Moreover, they have seen a certain profile of attacks. These attacks are significantly larger than the ones they’re used to seeing. They last longer. They’re more sophisticated. And they look like probing.

   The attacks are also configured in such a way as to see what the company’s total defenses are.

   I am unable to give details, because these companies spoke with me under condition of anonymity. But this all is consistent with what Verisign is reporting.

   There’s more. One company told me about a variety of probing attacks in addition to the DDoS attacks: testing the ability to manipulate Internet addresses and routes, seeing how long it takes the defenders to respond, and so on. Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical Internet services.

   Who would do this? It doesn’t seem like something an activist, criminal, or researcher would do. Profiling core infrastructure is common practice in espionage and intelligence gathering.

   What can we do about this? Nothing, really.

   But this is happening. And people should know.

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9. September 14, 2016 at 7:23 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Dustin Volz / Reuters:
   US tech firms including Facebook, Google, and Twitter urge Congress to support US govt.’s plan to give control of the Domain Naming System to ICANN on Oct. 1

   U.S. tech firms urge Congress to allow internet domain changeover
   http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-governance-idUSKCN11I2OT

   Major technology companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter are urging Congress to support a plan for the U.S. government to cede control of the internet’s technical management to the global community, they said in a joint letter dated on Tuesday.

   The U.S. Commerce Department has primary oversight of the internet’s management, largely because it was invented in the United States. Some Republican lawmakers are trying to block the handover to global stakeholders, which include businesses, tech experts and public interest advocates, saying it could stifle online freedom by giving voting rights to authoritarian governments.

   The years-long plan to transfer oversight of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is scheduled to occur on Oct. 1 unless Congress votes to block the handover. The California-based corporation operates the database for domain names such as .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses that allow computers to connect.

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10. September 15, 2016 at 6:05 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Patrick McGeehan / New York Times:
    LinkNYC removes browsing from NY kiosks after complaints people were monopolizing spots and watching porn, is working with city officials on options — The Wi-Fi kiosks were designed to replace phone booths and allow users to consult maps, maybe check the weather or charge their phones.

    Free Wi-Fi Kiosks Were to Aid New Yorkers. An Unsavory Side Has Spurred a Retreat.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/nyregion/internet-browsers-to-be-disabled-on-new-yorks-free-wi-fi-kiosks.html?_r=0

    The Wi-Fi kiosks in New York were designed to replace phone booths and allow users to consult maps, maybe check the weather or charge their phones. But they have also attracted people who linger for hours, sometimes drinking and doing drugs and, at times, boldly watching pornography on the sidewalks.

    Now, yielding to complaints, the operator of the kiosks, LinkNYC network, is shutting off their internet browsers, but not their other functions, while it works out a Plan B with city officials.

    The retreat comes just seven months after the mayor introduced the network amid much fanfare as a key plank of his promise to bridge the digital divide in the city. The kiosks would replace more than 7,500 public pay phones and bring free Wi-Fi and phone service to every neighborhood.

    an overdue replacement for increasingly outdated phone booths that were attracting vagrants and drug dealers.

    police officials had asked for the removal of “several problematic kiosks” along Eighth Avenue. He said he had observed people watching pornography on the kiosk screens with children nearby.

    “These kiosks are often monopolized by individuals creating personal spaces for themselves”

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11. September 15, 2016 at 8:00 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    A Teenage Hacker Figured Out How to Get Free Data on His Phone
    http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-teenage-hacker-figured-out-how-to-get-free-data-on-his-phone-t-mobile

    Jacob Ajit is 17 and he just hacked his way to getting free phone data, presumably so that he can do whatever it is that Teens do online these days without alerting his parents with overage fees.

    “Honestly, I just investigated this out of curiosity, and to learn a bit about how these networks are configured,” Ajit wrote me when I reached him over email. “T-Mobile will likely fix this soon, but I wanted to share my findings with the community in the meantime.”

    According to a Medium post Ajit posted on Wednesday, he made his discovery while playing around with a prepaid T-Mobile phone with no service. The phone was still able to connect to the network, although it would only take him to a T-Mobile portal asking him to renew the prepaid phone plan. For some reason, though, Ajit wrote that his internet speed test app still worked, albeit through a T-Mobile server.

    Ajit figured out that he was able to access media sent from any folder labelled “/speedtest,” possibly because T-Mobile whitelists media files from speed tests regardless of the host.

    How I gained access to TMobile’s national network for free
    We’ll see how long this survives after this post, of course…
    https://medium.com/@jacobajit/how-i-gained-access-to-tmobiles-national-network-for-free-f9aaf9273dea#.z8ufclqax

    Important edit: I wanted to clarify that I have reached out to TMobile and am awaiting a response. However, I made a decision to go ahead and publish this in the meantime since this unintentional flaw does not pose any harm to TMobile or their customers. It’s a trivial fix to whitelist Speedtest servers based on their official host list, as I point out in this post, and the educational benefits of sharing with the my findings with community in this case outweighed the case for waiting for a [possible] response from TMobile.

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12. September 15, 2016 at 8:13 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia founded the Alliance for LTE to public authority networks

    LTE network official version of the PS-LTE (Public Safety LTE) is one of the schedule replacing the existing digital government networks, such as domestic are based on Tetra technology VIRVE our network. Technology confirmed to bet Nokia has set up an alliance to promote the spread.

    The alliance is called the MCCA, or Mission Critical Communications Alliance. The project is called by operators, authorities and rescue organizations.

    Nokia announced in August it has developed jointly with SK Telecom, the world’s first portable Public Authority. The solution is based on Nokia’s all-in-one -type extremely compact base station that can be used to quickly create PS-LTE network, for example, to the disaster area.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5048:nokia-perusti-allianssin-lte-viranomaisverkkoihin&catid=13&Itemid=101

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13. September 15, 2016 at 8:17 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Free Web the whole of Europe in 2020

    European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker kept the annual State of the Union speech today. In telecommunications, the Juncker scored on hard targets.

    Juncker wants the 5G technology covers the whole of Europe by the year 2025. The requirement is hard, because 5G standard is expected to be completed perhaps only in 2020.

    The project generates Juncker, two million jobs in the EU.

    New idea: Europe every city and village need to get to free Wi-Fi as early as 2020.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5044:ilmainen-netti-koko-eurooppaan-2020&catid=13&Itemid=101

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14. September 16, 2016 at 4:30 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Jennifer Baker / Ars Technica UK:
    European Commission proposes €120M grant to give every town in the EU free public Wi-Fi by 2020, envisions fully deploying 5G across the EU by 2025

    EU’s digital market rules land vowing free Wi-Fi, 5G tech, and copyright overhaul
    100Mbps broadband, fully deployed 5G, no more bottlenecks—Juncker hits the sweet notes.
    http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/09/eu-digital-market-rules-free-wi-fi-5g-european-commission/

    The European Commission has promised free Wi-Fi in every town, village, and city in the European Union, in the next four years.

    A new grant, with a total budget of €120 million, will allow public authorities to purchase state-of-the art equipment, for example a local wireless access point. If approved by the the European Parliament and national ministers the cash could be available before the end of next year.

    The commission has also set a target for all European households to have access to download speeds of at least 100Mbps by 2025, and has redefined Internet access as a so-called universal service, while removing obligations for old universal services such as payphones.

    It also envisions fully deploying 5G, the fifth generation of mobile communication systems, across the European Union by 2025.

    The controversial copyright package was also formally unveiled.

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15. September 17, 2016 at 7:42 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    David Meyer / Fortune:
    De-Cix, operator of the world’s largest Internet exchange point, is suing German government over Federal Intelligence Service’s mass surveillance requests

    World’s Biggest Internet Hub Sues German Government Over Surveillance
    http://fortune.com/2016/09/16/de-cix-surveillance-germany/

    Massive surveillance by BND spy agency is illegal, says De-Cix.

    The operator of the world’s largest Internet exchange point, De-Cix, is suing the German government in an attempt to stop mass surveillance by the country’s spies.

    Internet exchange points are the hubs where the Internet’s core lines cross paths, so information can flow from anywhere to anywhere. De-Cix’s main hub is in Frankfurt, Germany, and it is the largest of its kind in the world.

    On Friday, De-Cix said it was pushing back against the legal orders it receives from the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, for short) that force it to allow the mass monitoring of communications flowing through its Frankfurt Internet exchange point.

    De-Cix said it wanted to show that the orders were illegal under the so-called G10 Act, which is analogous to the controversial U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and allows the strategic monitoring of international communications that flow through Germany.

    The German government is currently trying to pass a new law governing the BND that, critics say, would legalize the agency’s illegal activities.

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16. September 19, 2016 at 10:08 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia already reached a terabit fiber

    Nokia’s Bell Labs research division, together with the Technical University of Deutsche Telecom and Munich already reached one of terabytes per second rate of the optical link. Both the capacity of the connection that the spectral efficiency are record levels.

    The research project has been part of SASER project (Safe and Secure European Routing). Achieved one of terabytes per second speed of approaching the so-called. Shannon limit, ie the optical link theoretical maximum.

    Terabit speed is possible using a new modulation techniques. It is the PCS modulation (Probabilistic Constellation Shaping (PCS), which uses QAM patterns higher data capacity of the channel.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5052&via=n&datum=2016-09-16_11:07:21&mottagare=30929

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17. September 19, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Viavi and Ixia showcase fully interoperable 400GbE test system
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/09/viavi-ecoc-400gb.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September192016&eid=289644432&bid=1531579

    Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA), a provider of network testing, visibility, and security solutions, and Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ: VIAV), a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions, have joined forces to showcase the world’s first public interoperability demonstration of a test system running bi-directional 400GbE line rate traffic with RS-544 Forward Error Correction (FEC) as currently defined in the IEEE 802.3bs draft standard.

    Ixia and Viavi Solutions plan to demonstrate full interoperability of independently developed MAC, PCS, and RS-544 FEC IP by each company, including the critical FEC element that enables 400GbE error-free data packets to be carried over fiber links, on readily available hardware components. This demonstration is intended to show that it is now possible to successfully bring products to market that interoperate in accordance with emerging 400GbE standards and are ready for adoption by network equipment manufacturers as well as companies that need to move forward with their 400GbE implementation.

    Viavi’s Optical Network Tester (ONT) has been proven in lab testing of 100G components, and now has the industry’s first 400G support to include FEC and PAM4 modulation. Pioneers of the high-speed network ecosystem now have a comprehensive, integrated platform for design, development, and validation of 400G technologies including CFP8 pluggable 400G optics.

    400GbE technology is a leading edge technology, and this demonstration is intended to confirm that the key elements, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), CFP8 (CFP2 form-factor pluggable) optics, CFP8 connectors, and IP, are available and ready to build the next generation of high speed optical networking products.

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18. September 19, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cisco, HPE Aruba and Brocade lead IHS Markit’s ‘WLAN Infrastructure Scorecard’
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/09/ihs-wlan-scorecard.html

    IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a global business information provider, has released excerpts from its 2016 WLAN Infrastructure Vendor Scorecard. The scorecard profiles and analyzes the top seven revenue producers for enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) infrastructure.

    Listed in the scorecard, in alphabetical order, were Aerohive, Brocade (which acquired Ruckus Wireless in 2016), Cisco, HPE Aruba, Ubiquiti, Xirrus and Zebra.

    For 2016, Cisco, HPE Aruba and Brocade were named leaders in WLAN infrastructure, while Ubiquiti was classified as established and Aerohive, Xirrus and Zebra were dubbed challengers.

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19. September 19, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cisco Blog: ‘How to upgrade your Cat 5e cable without ever touching a wall’
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/cisco-blog-how-to-upgrade-your-cat-5e-cable-without-ever-touching-a-wall.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September192016&eid=289644432&bid=1531579

    The bottleneck is now forming behind that AP which is now demanding at as much as 3 to 4 Gbps. The issue is not with the Access switch, it’s with the cable in the wall.

    Today, there are over 70 billion meters of Cat 5e and Cat 6 deployed in the world. That’s 10 meters for every man women and child on Earth. So what are the options to ensure that the wired infrastructure does not completely bottle-neck the wireless network? One option is re-deploying the wire, but sometimes it may not be possible. Assuming it is even possible, cost estimates have scaled to over $300k per building.

    A more viable option is to upgrade your Cat 5e cable without ever touching a wall. This is the approach that Cisco and the NBASE-T Alliance have taken to give us an immediate and cost effective solution. Thanks to their work, there is now a solution where you can get 2.5 and even 5 Gbps across existing Cat 5e cable.

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20. September 19, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Aerohive unveils Software Defined LAN (SD-LAN) platform
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/aerohive-unveils-software-defined-lan-sd-lan-platform.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September192016&eid=289644432&bid=1531579

    SD-LAN billed as “a new architecture for access networks, designed for organizations struggling to adapt their network to the constantly changing demands of mobility and their business.”

    Aerohive’s SD-LAN capabilities include a new line of cloud-managed access switches; the AP250, a Wave 2 802.11ac access point with software definable dual 5 GHz radios; the latest release of the company’s HiveManager NG cloud-delivered network and policy management; dynamic application and identity-driven network performance; and an open API platform. “All of this makes Aerohive the first to deliver software defined access for adaptable, flexible, and cost-effective wireless and wired access networking,” claims the company.

    “SD-LAN builds on the principles of Software-Defined Networks (SDN) in the data center and the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) to create a new approach to adaptable, flexible, and cost-effective wireless and wired access network.”

    SD-LAN defines 5 key attributes for dynamic next-generation access networks:

    Application Optimized – Prioritizes and dynamically changes the performance and behavior of the network based on the applications that use the network, focusing network resources where they best serve the organization’s most important activities.

    Identity Driven – Dynamically defines what individual users, clients, and things can do when they access the SD-LAN. Secure granular context based access policies that can be applied to just one user and device or groups of users and devices.

    Adaptable Wired and Wi-Fi Access Layer – Wireless access points and access switches that can intelligently respond as changes in network configuration and requirements occur. This includes control protocols to deliver self-optimization, self-healing, and device behavior that can be manipulated through software.

    Cloud Managed – Centralized management of operations and policies, with policy changes distributed in real-time to switches and access points, across the distributed access network infrastructure. Cloud management keeps networks dynamic, tightly managed, and cost effective to operate.

    Open APIs – Programmable interfaces that allow tight integration of network and applications infrastructures, enabling the network to provide new insights and integrate with the rest of the operations framework.

    Reply
21. September 20, 2016 at 7:15 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    2.5-Gbps MUX eases Ethernet switch upgrade
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4442714/2-5-Gbps-MUX-eases-Ethernet-switch-upgrade-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20160919&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20160919&elqTrackId=7015aa1ae4854242ab6ee329dc519bfd&elq=ea986553477f4ecba593c6b9dcc3aa4c&elqaid=33923&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=29657

    Microsemi’s PDS-EM-8100 PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) 2.5-Gbps multiplexer enables installations of new IEEE 802.11ac access points with 2.5-Gbps rates without having to replace the 1-Gbps Ethernet switch. The unit converts two copper 1-Gbps ports into a single copper port with a 2.5-Gbps NBASE-T interface. It also guarantees up to 30 W of output power over Ethernet to the end device.

    The PDS-EM-8100 is an unmanaged device and can be installed right out of the box with no configuration required.

    The PDS-EM-8100 multiplexer costs $399.

    http://www.microsemi.com/products/poe-systems/pds-em-8100-2-5gbps-nbase-t-poe-mux

    Reply
22. September 20, 2016 at 8:04 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    More mobile than fixed data in DNA network in Finland

    DNA today announced that it is the mobile phone network data traffic is exceeded during the fixed broadband network traffic volume of the summer. The news is not a surprise, but the development speed may have been a surprise.

    Even 2-3 years ago mobile data’s share of all Web traffic was marginal. United States, all the data was transferred to mobiles only three per cent in 2014. In the Nordic countries the figure was at the time the order of about 10 percent.

    DNA’s fixed broadband network was moving in August to about 27 000 terabytes of data per month. Mobile network data read out 32 000 terabytes, or by adhering to an more.

    Other operators do not have the figures to the public, but all the developments follow the same paths

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5062:dna-n-datauutinen-oli-odotettu&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
23. September 20, 2016 at 8:13 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ericsson’s network tests for LTE at WiFi frequencies widely criticized

    Ericsson announced in early September the test results, which it forwarded to the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC LTE and the ability of Wi-Fi signals to share the spectrum. Last week, a total of seven companies as Broadcom, Microsoft, and Cypress Semiconductor, led scolded tests vague.

    LTE and WiFi signal compatibility can not be tested according to the critics, other than following the WFA plan. As a result, Ericsson’s test does not show compatibility, and the FCC should also not accept any such test reports

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5068:ericssonin-verkkotesteja-kritisoidaan-laajalti&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Report: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/109022627605558/Ericsson_LTE-U_Ex_Parte.pdf

    Reply
24. September 20, 2016 at 8:22 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    5G Cellular ‘Still in Early Stages’
    Phase 1 draft considered for May 2018
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330475&

    It’s still early days for 5G cellular, according to a Qorvo engineer attending the 3GPP meetings where the standard is being hammered out. Despite talk about trials and commercials offerings as early as next year, standards will not be complete until late in 2019 making true 5G offerings unlikely before 2020.

    The 3GPP broke the task of defining 5G into two parts. By September 2018 it aims to release a first phase aimed at enhanced broadband services below 6 GHz with some support for new low latency communications.

    The group is considering a May 2018 preliminary release of that first phase to make sure it is on track.

    Several carriers are already conducting trials of millimeter wave services at 28 GHz and above. However the standard for 5G mmwave and machine-type communications will be part of the second phase of the 3GPP’s work, due out by December 2019.

    The work “started at 28 GHz, and we talked in general about how it would change for 40 and 70 GHz,” said Azcuy. But overall the 5G work is “still in early stages,” he added.

    Over the next year, one of the big questions is what will be the new air interface in 5G. To date, companies and academics have proposed a wide range of variations of air interfaces based on OFDM and at least one new concept from a startup.

    “By early or mid-2017 we should have an opinion based on data that we and others in 3GPP have taken,”

    Another key challenge will be setting standards for phased arrays of antennas for mmwaves. Massive MIMO arrays in mmwave bands are expected to be key enablers for multi-Gbit/second broadband services, especially in urban settings.

    “That will be discussed early below 6 GHz first,”

    Top telecom OEMs are already rolling out systems, sometimes with big claims, in an effort to pave a path for their carrier customers through LTE to 5G.

    For example, earlier this year Ericsson announced “the world’s first 5G NR radio for massive MIMO, with the first deployments coming in 2017,” claiming it is “first to deliver all components of a 5G access network.” The Ericsson press statement quoted executives from both AT&T and China Mobile praising the system as a flexible platform for today’s 4G and tomorrow’s 5G networks.

    Rival Nokia took a more measured approach in a statement earlier this month announcing a new 4.5G Pro system.

    Slicing hairs even finer, Nokia talked about “plans for 4.9G, which will allow users to maintain a continuous 5G service experience using an evolved LTE to complement 5G radio coverage.”

    Reply
25. September 20, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    25 GHz O/E Converter and Coherent Optical Receiver
    https://www.eeweb.com/news/25-ghz-oe-converter-and-coherent-optical-receiver

    Teledyne LeCroy further extends its technology leadership with the announcement of two new products. The OE6250G O/E converter is the highest-performance optical-to-electrical converter available for real-time oscilloscopes, with 25 GHz of optical bandwidth. The IQS25 Coherent Optical Receiver joins the IQS product family as a lower-cost alternative to the high-performance IQS42 and IQS70 receivers, providing a high-value instrument for testing coherent links up to 32 Gbaud.

    The OE6250G is a fully calibrated, DC-coupled 25 GHz Optical-to-Electrical converter – the first such instrument available. With a wide operating range of 800 nm – 1600 nm, it enables accurate acquisition of intensity-modulated optical signals on a real-time oscilloscope at baud rates of 28 Gbaud and beyond.

    The OE6250G arrives in early 2017.

    With 25 GHz of optical bandwidth, the new IQS25 Coherent Optical Receiver enables analysis of coherent signal types such as DP-QPSK and DP-16QAM to 32 Gbaud and beyond.

    Reply
26. September 21, 2016 at 5:29 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Chris Welch / The Verge:
    Comcast CEO says the company plans to debut a wireless service by mid-2017, using leased Verizon airwaves and Comcast’s 14M+ Wi-Fi hot spots — It will run on Verizon airwaves and also lean on Wi-Fi — Comcast just solidified long-rumored plans to launch its own MVNO cellular service.

    Comcast confirms plans to launch mobile phone service in 2017
    20 comments
    It will run on Verizon airwaves and also lean on Wi-Fi
    http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12986872/comcast-mobile-network-verizon-mvno-2017

    Comcast just solidified long-rumored plans to launch its own MVNO cellular service. Speaking at an investor conference moments ago, CEO Brian Roberts revealed that the Comcast “network” will launch by mid-2017 and put a large focus on Wi-Fi hotspots — similar to Google’s Project Fi. When away from Wi-Fi connections, Comcast’s service will run on the Verizon Wireless network.

    Reply
27. September 22, 2016 at 9:08 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hudson Hongo / Gizmodo:
    Trump backs Cruz in opposing transfer of Domain Name System to ICANN in October, claiming Internet freedom would be at risk

    Surprise, Donald Trump Has No Idea How Internet Censorship Works
    http://gizmodo.com/surprise-donald-trump-has-no-idea-how-internet-censors-1786921203

    Back in December, Donald Trump suggested fighting terrorism online by “closing the internet in some way,” openly mocking potential First Amendment concerns. Since then, the alleged computer user seems to have changed his mind, joining Ted Cruz’s bizarre crusade for an American takeover of the internet’s address book in the name of freedom of speech.

    At the end of the month, the Department of Commerce is scheduled to end its supervision of ICANN—the organization in charge of supervising domain names—as part of a long-planned transition toward oversight by the global community the internet represents. On Wednesday, however, the Trump campaign released a statement condemning the change as President Obama’s “plan to surrender internet control to foreign powers.”

    This argument, recently advanced in a Senate hearing by Ted Cruz, fails to explain how domain name administration is tied to government censorship, which (despite Trump’s claims) is already wielded by oppressive regimes across the world.

    Sen. Cruz: Obama’s Internet Handover Endangers Free Speech Online
    https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2810

    Reply
28. September 22, 2016 at 11:01 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ericsson Plans to Stop Manufacturing in Sweden, Cutting 3,000 Jobs
    http://fortune.com/2016/09/21/ericsson-stop-manufacturing-sweden-cut-3000-jobs/

    The company’s factory closures end 140 years of telegraph and telephony production in the country.

    Mobile telecoms equipment maker Ericsson plans to close the last of its Swedish manufacturing sites, cutting around 3,000 jobs in the country, Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported on Wednesday.

    Manufacturing facilities in the cities of Boras and Kumla will be closed

    The affected jobs are in the network products division which is the company’s biggest business area

    Ericsson, which has about 120,000 employees worldwide—including 17,000 overall in Sweden—has seen demand stagnate in developed markets where the most advanced networks have mostly already been built.

    Ericsson to end manufacturing in Sweden?
    https://www.thelocal.se/20160922/ericsson-to-end-manufacturing-in-sweden-report

    Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson is planning to end all of its manufacturing in the country, according to a report in newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

    Part of a savings plan detailed on an internal document which SvD gained access to, the decision would mean that 3,000 employees lose their jobs following the closure of Ericsson’s last manufacturing plants in Sweden, in Borås and Kumla.

    In the document, Ericsson’s leadership are said to have stated that “We will end a 140-year-old manufacturing period, which represents the biggest cuts of employees in Sweden ever”. The company employs a total of around 15,000 people in Sweden.

    Senior management has been notified about the process and union negotiations are already under way.

    “This plan would kill Ericsson and be a first step towards phasing out all of its operations in Sweden,” a source at the company told SvD.

    In a comment provided to Swedish news agency TT, the telecoms giant said its ongoing cost-cutting programme means reductions in the number of employees around the world

    Reply
29. September 22, 2016 at 11:12 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wi-Fi Alliance publishes LTE/WiFi coexistence test plan
    Would-be LTE-U carriers told to take these tests, or just leave off
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/22/wifi_alliance_publishes_lteu_test_plan/

    The Wi-Fi Alliance’s long-awaited – and controversial – LTE-U Coexistence Test plan has landed.

    The reg-walled test plan is supposed to help work out if LTE-U – the mobile carriers’ plan to use unlicensed spectrum if nobody else is talking – can coexist with Wi-Fi.

    Carriers, already under a spectrum squeeze, are hoping they can pitch their tents on Wi-Fi’s campground, promising that LTE-U won’t disrupt Wi-Fi. will play nice if there are Wi-Fi users around.

    Negotiations between the groups and America’s Federal Communications Commission have been tense, and at one point, Qualcomm complained its input to the test plan had been ignored.

    In particular, Qualcomm had complained that the proposal to use -82 dBm as the threshold LTE-U would treat as “vacant” was too loose, and would leave a lot of Wi-Fi users out in the cold. That, however, is the lowest test threshold in the test plan.

    Qualcomm is already conducting LTE-U field trials with T-Mobile, and early this week it asked the FCC for a 12-month extension to the authorisation it first received in May of this year.

    Coexistence Test Plan (v1.0 – September 2016)
    https://www.wi-fi.org/downloads-registered-guest/Coexistence_TestPlan_v1.0.pdf/30083

    Reply
30. September 22, 2016 at 11:35 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Quantum teleportation across a metropolitan fibre network
    http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2016.180.html

    If a photon interacts with a member of an entangled photon pair via a Bell-state measurement (BSM), its state is teleported over principally arbitrary distances onto the pair’s second member.

    Here, using the Calgary fibre network, we report quantum teleportation from a telecom photon at 1,532 nm wavelength, interacting with another telecom photon after both have travelled several kilometres and over a combined beeline distance of 8.2 km, onto a photon at 795 nm wavelength. This improves the distance over which teleportation takes place to 6.2 km.

    Quantum teleportation with independent sources and prior entanglement distribution over a network
    http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2016.179.html

    Quantum teleportation faithfully transfers a quantum state between distant nodes in a network, which enables revolutionary information-processing applications

    We take the challenge and report the construction of a 30 km optical-fibre-based quantum network distributed over a 12.5 km area. This network is robust against noise in the real world with active stabilization strategies, which allows us to realize quantum teleportation with all the ingredients simultaneously.

    Reply
31. September 23, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    SkyFi Internet| Skyfi wifi |skyfi wireless internet
    http://www.alltoptricks.com/skyfi-wireless-internet

    Skyfi Internet: Hi, we know about wi-fi technology and something about li-fi. now the latest technology skyfi internet. The project of Facebook,Google,Microsoft is to provide the internet through skyfi wireless internet technology ,it is the aim of these.It is developing to provide internet unavailable places to improve internet services through skyfi internet to those places also. they are investing crores of money to provide skyfi internet.they are ready to provide the internet through sky not through by the cables.

    Skyfi internet has developed patented technology to reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit and greatly enhance link bandwidth, enabling 1 gigabit-per-second communications from anywhere on Earth.

    Facebook Aquila providing features :

    Facebook Aquila is an aeroplane.
    It’s made up of carbon fiber.
    It works based on the solar energy.
    It requires 5000 watts of energy.
    It flies three months.
    It launches in south Africa.
    It has the more widening of wings than the bowing plane.
    The operating system works on earth.
    Take off, take on itself .
    It flies over the earth at 60000 Feet’s.
    It provides the internet up to 11 miles distance.

    Microsoft,white space providing features :

    Mainly it is available in India in Srikakulam district.
    the testing process completed in these countries,Britain,America,Jamaica,Namibia,Philippines,twain.
    it is mainly important in TV spectrum into bands.
    by the space, it provides wi-fi to all regions.
    Every skyfi internet wifi spot provides internet up to 10 kilometers.

    Features of Google Loon:

    It is a google project.
    It provides the skyfi internet through balloons, by entering in the sky.
    The project has tested in India.
    It has a partnership with BSNL Telecom limited.
    It is located at 20 kilometers over the earth in the sky.
    These are made up of polyethylene plastics.
    It is located between 15 meters width 122 meters wide.
    It’s lifetime 3 months.
    It works based on the solar energy and requires 100 watts of energy.
    it is working on LTE technology.
    Every balloon provides internet up to 40 kilometers.
    Skyfi internet disclosed this new technology at the Microsoft Think Next event at the end of February, garnering much media attention.

    Facebook,google,Microsoft White space, their build the aim to provide the skyfi internet overall world.now a days internet is one the great source to do anything.

    Reply
32. September 23, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Any guesses on the failure root cause, readers?
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/r-m-launches-antibacterial-hospital-cabling-line.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_ContractorReport_September222016&eid=289644432&bid=1535607

    R&M, the global Swiss developer and provider of cabling systems for top-quality and highly efficient network infrastructures, is launching a special cabling line for health institutions.

    The company’s new outlets and patch cords have antibacterial properties. Their plastic parts are resistant to germs and bacteria in compliance with ISO 22196. The R&MhealthLine range is suitable for patient rooms and similar deployment areas which have an inherent risk of infection.

    “According to the WHO around 16 million people die every year from infections contracted in hospitals. We want to make a contribution to reducing the risk of infection,” says Matthias Gerber, R&M Market Manager, LAN Cabling. “With the installation of R&MhealthLine, clinics can further improve their risk management in the IT area,”he explains.

    Properties protecting against the bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were successfully demonstrated in laboratory tests.

    R&MhealthLine offers the first consistent and complete range for network equipment in environments reserved for patients and people requiring care. It comprises outlets with RJ45 sockets, shielded and unshielded patch cords for connecting computers, multimedia, communication and medical devices, as well as shutters and coding elements from the R&M security system.

    The relevant standards require greater protection for operating theaters. Medical devices and data networks have to be galvanically isolated at such places of use to protect patients from any possible over voltages. R&M has developed a solution for this, too: the maintenance-free R&MsafeLine network isolation module. It can be installed in existing LAN outlets and takes care of galvanic isolation. That saves costly solutions in terms of medical technology and ensures uninterrupted data transmission.

    The R&M security system supports this goal with color coding, shutters and labels to mark the different connections. The highest level of the security system prevents misuse or errors when cables are unplugged or plugged in through mechanical locks for LAN connectors. Only authorized people can open the locks.

    SafeLine type B-HDF – R&M
    https://www.google.fi/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi_iI3By6XPAhVBP5oKHfSHCU0QFggkMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rdm.com%2Fbra_en%2Fcontent%2Fdownload%2F53201%2F1626523%2Fversion%2F3%2Ffile%2Finstallation_instruction_pd1069safeline-b-hdf.pdf&usg=AFQjCNF7UmAYLtaPJB2JmEOimHuiJTANrg

    Reply
33. September 23, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    OIF physical layer working group launches 100G serial electrical links project
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/08/oif-100g-serial.html

    In the wake of its 3rd quarter meeting, the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) announced that it has begun work on its 100G Serial Electrical Link project.

    “The very short reach (VSR) CEI-112G chip-to-module interface project is aimed at meeting the most immediate needs of the industry, with both shorter and longer reach projects expected to follow,” said an OIF statement. “CEI-112G-VSR will support a nominal lane rate of 112 Gb/s, enabling narrower interfaces to optical modules, and is expected to be more energy efficient than previous interfaces. The CEI-112G-VSR specification doubles data rates over the current generation CEI-56G-VSR interfaces.”

    “Optical lane speeds have run faster than electrical lane speeds since the introduction of 10G Ethernet. While this is not a problem in the early days of a new data rate, the lowest module cost is achieved when optical and electrical lane speeds are the same,” points out Dale Murray, principal analyst with LightCounting Market Research. “The first optical modules running 100 Gb/s serial are expected in 2018, so now is the time for the OIF to begin work on this CEI-112G project.”

    “The OIF is continuing its roadmap for 100 Gb/s thru 400 Gb/s and beyond applications, addressing multiple reaches for chip-to-chip and chip-to module interfaces.”

    Reply
34. September 26, 2016 at 9:53 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Enabling the next generation of gigabit services with
    the new ARRIS Touchstone® D3.1 Gateway

    The ARRIS DOCSIS 3.1 portfolio collectively addresses key operator challenges and opportunities such as:

    Video-over-Wi-Fi®: Ensuring the consistent, reliable delivery of high-quality video service over Wi-Fi through Video QoS, Dedicated Video SSID, and dynamic and adaptive airtime management—eliminating performance bottlenecks
    Security: Addressing software security concerns through software authentication and security provisions, including anti-cloning and anti-rollback mechanisms
    IoT Support: Enabling operators to roll out and extend new smart home services through IoT-enabling technologies, including multiple radios and software support
    Wi-Fi Management: Delivering comprehensive in-home Wi-Fi management and service provisioning to match the increasing number of wireless devices in the home

    performance tier Touchstone TG3452 which offers even faster speed and the premium tier Touchstone TG3462 which adds multiple IoT radios and 8×8 Wi-Fi to deliver the fastest-possible speeds and best connectivity for next-generation connected-home services.

    More: http://www.arris.com/products/touchstone-tg3442-cable-voice-gateway

    Reply
35. September 28, 2016 at 11:04 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The tester for high-speed Wi-Fi signals

    802.11ad is IEEE standardized by the Wi-Fi technology, which takes a WLAN connection to 60 GHz frequency range, wide bandwidth and data rates of gigabits. Measuring Equipment manufacturer Keysight Technologies has now begun to deliver volumes 802.11ad integrated testing solution.

    It consists E7760A tester, as well as the millimeter range M1650A-transmitter. The solution can be used to test the two plates gigahertz band 60 GHz range. The solution demos were already in February in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress.

    Keysightin package can be used for 60-gigahertz, or WiGig connectivity chipsets, modules and equipment design validation and production testing.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5119:testeri-huippunopeille-wifi-signaaleille&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
36. September 28, 2016 at 11:06 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nokia controls traffic with quad copters

    Nokia’s UTM solution (unmanned aerial vehicles Traffic Management) is capable of, for example, to monitor the so-called. the no-fly zone or a no-fly zones

    Nokia UAV solution base of the company last spring to introduce Ultra Compact Network solution, which is practically backpack – or in this case – nelikopteriin a suitable access point unit. This is the smallest base station Flexi-series produces a 75 km perimeter 4G cell 400 to the user. The device weighs about five pounds and requires a power supply of a hundred watts.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5115:nokia-ohjaa-liikennetta-nelikoptereilla&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
37. September 28, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Always get free airport Wi-Fi with these simple tricks
    http://thenextweb.com/lifestyle/2016/09/27/free-airport-wi-fi/

    Getting airport Wi-Fi can be quite tricky. It might be paid, hidden behind a password or hard to find.

    Thanks to travel blog FoxNomad, we have a couple of great resources to make sure you can always get on the internet no matter what. I’m going to run you through them.

    A Map Of Wireless Passwords From Airports And Lounges Around The World (Updated Regularly)
    https://foxnomad.com/2016/04/26/map-wireless-passwords-airports-lounges-around-world-updated-regularly/

    Reply
38. September 28, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Spammers Increasingly Hijacking IPv4 Addresses
    http://www.securityweek.com/spammers-increasingly-hijacking-ipv4-addresses

    As new IPv4 addresses are more and more difficult to come by, spammers are increasingly hijacking existing IP address ranges for their nefarious purposes, Spamhaus researchers warn.

    The issue, researchers explain, is that spammers need a constant flow of fresh IP addresses, because those they use get a bad reputation of being sources of spam quite fast. This issue isn’t new, and spammers are constantly looking for new means of getting fresh IP addresses.

    Back in January, researchers accused Verizon of routing over 4 million IP addresses that were in the hands of cybercriminals. At the time, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) was accused of not looking closely at the routing requests, which allowed cybercriminals to use their stolen addresses unhindered.

    Now, Spamhaus reveals that spammers are “hijacking existing IP address ranges from under the noses of the legitimate owners and ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers),” and that Legacy IP address ranges are most targeted by cybercriminals. These addresses, issued before ARIN’s inception in 1997, can’t be revoked even if the yearly fees aren’t paid, meaning that they can lie dormant, sometimes forgotten by the legitimate owners.

    Reply
39. September 28, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    5G Waveform Candidates
    by Rohde & Schwarz
    http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4442439/5G-Waveform-Candidates

    Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Machine Type Communication, Ultra-reliable and low latency communication have been identified as the requirements to be supported by the 5thGeneration of Mobile Communication, short 5G. 5G is extensively discussed in the wireless industry. A lot of research and pre-development is being conducted worldwide, including an analysis of the waveforms and access principles that are the basis for current LTE and LTE-Advanced networks. This application note discusses potential 5G waveform candidates, lists their advantages and disadvantages, and compares them to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which is used in LTE/LTE-Advanced.

    5G Waveform Candidates
    How Rohde & Schwarz test and measurement solutions can be used to generate and analyze 5G waveform candidates.
    https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/us/solutions/wireless-communications/5g/5g-waveforms/5g-waveforms_230224.html

    Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the access scheme that is used in today’s LTE/LTE-Advanced networks. Two separate waveforms are utilized to gain access to the network: OFDM access (OFDMA) in the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in the uplink.

    The limitations of OFDM-based waveforms were identified as research topics for future 5G waveforms. One aspect is the requirement for much shorter latency to enable new services and applications like autonomous driving that demands an ultra-low latency and a highly resilient communication link. Another approach is to make the cyclic prefix optional and work with shorter symbol durations. All this has led to several candidate waveforms, such as

    Generalized frequency division multiplex (GFDM)
    Filter bank multicarrier (FBMC)
    Universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC)
    Filtered OFDM (f-OFDM)

    The performance of these waveform candidates is currently being analyzed and evaluated. At the same time new multiple access schemes are also being researched, including sparse code multiple access (SCMA), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and resource spread multiple access (RSMA).

    Reply
40. September 28, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s Official. IPv4 is Out, Time to Transition to IPv6
    http://www.securityweek.com/its-official-ipv4-out-time-transition-ipv6

    Reply
41. September 28, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    5G Cellular ‘Still in Early Stages’
    Phase 1 draft considered for May 2018
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330475&

    It’s still early days for 5G cellular, according to a Qorvo engineer attending the 3GPP meetings where the standard is being hammered out. Despite talk about trials and commercials offerings as early as next year, standards will not be complete until late in 2019 making true 5G offerings unlikely before 2020.

    The 3GPP broke the task of defining 5G into two parts. By September 2018 it aims to release a first phase aimed at enhanced broadband services below 6 GHz with some support for new low latency communications.

    The group is considering a May 2018 preliminary release of that first phase to make sure it is on track.

    “If you don’t have a preliminary standard release to provide guidance and everyone races to trials and demos you can risk having variations of the standard out that could create problems down the road,”

    Several carriers are already conducting trials of millimeter wave services at 28 GHz and above. However the standard for 5G mmwave and machine-type communications will be part of the second phase of the 3GPP’s work, due out by December 2019.

    3GPP is setting simulation parameters for 5G in mmwave bands. One 3GPP working group determined 10-13 dB as a suitable link margin for mmwave systems, Azcuy said.

    The work “started at 28 GHz, and we talked in general about how it would change for 40 and 70 GHz,”

    Over the next year, one of the big questions is what will be the new air interface in 5G. To date, companies and academics have proposed a wide range of variations of air interfaces based on OFDM and at least one new concept from a startup.

    “We are familiar with the air interfaces they are looking at and their pros and cons…we have to develop opinions of what’s optimal, so engineers are looking at simulations, but at this point it’s too early,” said Azcuy. “By early or mid-2017 we should have an opinion based on data that we and others in 3GPP have taken,” he added

    Another key challenge will be setting standards for phased arrays of antennas for mmwaves. Massive MIMO arrays in mmwave bands are expected to be key enablers for multi-Gbit/second broadband services, especially in urban settings.

    “That will be discussed early below 6 GHz first,”

    Top telecom OEMs are already rolling out systems, sometimes with big claims, in an effort to pave a path for their carrier customers through LTE to 5G.

    Ericsson announced “the world’s first 5G NR radio for massive MIMO, with the first deployments coming in 2017,”

    Rival Nokia took a more measured approach in a statement earlier this month announcing a new 4.5G Pro system. It “will deliver ten times the speeds of initial 4G networks, making it possible for operators to offer gigabit peak data rates,”

    Nokia talked about “plans for 4.9G, which will allow users to maintain a continuous 5G service experience using an evolved LTE to complement 5G radio coverage.”

    Reply
42. September 28, 2016 at 3:03 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Telco Revamp is a Soft Opportunity
    http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330514&

    Massive changes are taking place in telecom networks which will power growth in smartphone use and the next big things.

    After Apple announced another iPhone to a flat reaction from Wall Street, it appears the smartphone revolution is fading into the past. The maturing sector has seen replacement cycles for consumers lengthened, and annual releases of new phones with incremental improvements and less wow factor.

    After almost ten years of incredible improvements, things have slowed. Telecom carriers were focused on the land-grab of bringing customers to their network with the latest phones and data plans. As smartphone sales plateau, they need to look inwards at their core assets, the network itself.

    This network has so much legacy architecture designed for an era of voice calls on macro cellular towers. It has been admirably adapted to handle 4G and a surge of data demand, but it was not built for this purpose. So the carriers are refocusing on the cost savings, improved efficiency, and service agility they can gain from a digital transformation.

    The digital transformation is attractive for many reasons. It reduces capex by shifting to virtualization technologies so carriers can replace dedicated, single-function systems with general purpose servers. On top of these servers, they can run virtual machines that replicate the functions of the old systems, making it easier to scale and shift functions as needed.

    Using virtual machines, carriers can begin to offer more services in a fail-fast mode, lowering barriers for creating new services.

    As carriers shift toward servers, it’s not a great time for their top tier vendors. These companies are busy redefining themselves as software companies, professional service providers and network operations specialists, much like IBM did in the 1990’s when their hardware market became commoditized.

    This is good news for smaller, hungrier vendors. The flexibility carriers gain from virtualization means they will have the agility to work with smaller companies more than ever.

    Every September at the TC3 Summit the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley as carriers what innovations they most want

    Here are a few items on their wish lists:

    Virtualization, NFV and VNFs, including MANO solutions
    SDN and SON solutions
    IoT platforms, narrowband solutions
    5G-ready technologies
    Media and content integration
    Solutions for handling video with aplomb
    Big data analytics
    And help with a digital transformations from the core network to the customer experience

    Vendors that most closely match their offerings to the telco’s needs will get the most market traction.

    Reply
43. September 28, 2016 at 3:14 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    ‘Geek gene’ denied: If you find computer science hard, it’s your fault (or your teacher’s)
    And you find it easy, it’s through hard work – not a ‘gift’
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/28/geek_gene_denied/

    Assume for the sake of argument that computer science grades are bimodal: there’s a distinct group of students who excel at the subject, and then there’s everyone else in another group.

    Computer science researchers at the University of Toronto – namely, Elizabeth Patitsas, Jesse Berlin, Michelle Craig, and Steve Easterbrook – argue that while people commonly believe there are two such groups – the naturally gifted and the non-gifted – those people are just plain wrong.

    In a freshly published paper [PDF], the researchers describe how they analyzed the distribution of 778 sets of final CS course grades at a large research university, and found only 5.8 per cent of the distribution curves were distinct enough to qualify as bimodal or multimodal.

    In other words, there’s no separation in terms of grade data between those who can and those who cannot. In most cases, graphs of student grades fit a normal statistical pattern.

    Yet belief persists that some people have the “geek gene” and some don’t.

    Evidence That Computer Science Grades Are Not Bimodal
    https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/09/27/icer_2016_bimodal.pdf

    Reply
44. September 29, 2016 at 10:01 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    MIT Technology Review investigates ‘AT&T’s plan to hack the electrical grid to provide cheap wireless broadband’
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/mit-technology-review-investigates-at-t-s-plan-to-hack-the-electrical-grid-to-provide-cheap-wireless.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September262016&eid=289644432&bid=1538204

    AT&T says that the electrical grid can help solve this century’s challenge of making high-speed Internet universally available. A new project unveiled this week called AirGig uses power lines to guide high-speed wireless data signals over long distances, upgrading electrical infrastructure to also serve as Internet infrastructure.

    “Getting electricity to every home and business was one of the last century’s great infrastructure challenges in many parts of the world,” notes MIT Technology Review’s Tom Simonite. “In the U.S., people in rural areas and with lower incomes are much less likely to have access to broadband. Infrastructure costs are a major reason more than half the world’s population is without broadband access. AT&T says that the electrical grid can help solve this century’s challenge of making high-speed Internet universally available.”

    “[AT&T's] AirGig involves mounting small plastic antennas on power lines so that they can draw power from them wirelessly and shoot wireless signals through the air. Those signals don’t travel inside the cables but are tuned to use them like guard rails. Each link can carry multiple gigabits of data, according to AT&T. An AirGig system would use conventional cellular or Wi-Fi antennas to offer connectivity to people and their devices.

    Reply
45. September 29, 2016 at 10:06 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Millimeter wave: The key to 5G?
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/millimeter-wave-the-key-to-5g.html

    the closing ceremony now finished in Rio, the handover to the 2020 host, Tokyo, has happened and with it the four-year countdown gets underway – to one of the key moments in the evolution of 5G, which will rely on millimetre wave technologies to deliver great throughputs over cellular networks.

    Like the last Japanese Olympics, held in 1964, this event promises to be a showcase of technology as well as sporting prowess. Then it was the bullet train and the overseas colour broadcasts via satellite (then a world first), now it’s self-driving cars, 5G networks and 8K broadcasts. Back in 2013, when the city won the right to host the Games they made the promise – to have a cellular network 100 times faster than LTE.

    5G will use millimetre wave (mmWave) technologies (like WiGig) to transmit the data – using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum

    WiGig and the Gateway to 5G
    https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/blog/2016/09/wigig-and-gateway-5g

    the handover to the 2020 host, Tokyo, has happened and with it the four-year countdown gets underway.

    This is one of the key moments in the evolution of 5G, which will rely on millimetre wave technologies to deliver great throughputs over cellular networks.

    Back in 2013, when the city won the right to host the Games they made the promise – to have a cellular network 100 times faster than LTE.

    And already Panasonic has announced it is launching “experimental demonstrations” at Narita, Japan’s biggest airport. For these demonstrations, Panasonic has set up WiGig networks in the airport. The announcement states that visitors will be able to “experience high-definition video download over a next-generation WLAN connection onto a dedicated terminal.”

    Millimetre Wave: The Key to 5G

    5G will use millimetre wave (mmWave) technologies (like WiGig) to transmit the data – using both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

    Indeed, there is a school of thought in several countries (including Japan), where WiGig is seen as a 5G light technology. And while the usage in Japan is slightly different to those in other countries, it was telling that just a couple of weeks before the Rio Games got underway, the US’s FCC voted unanimously to approve the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding and make spectrum bands above 24 GHz available for 5G.

    In doing so, the regulator opened almost 11 GHz of high-frequency spectrum for mobile and fixed-use broadband – with 28 GHz (27.5-28.35 GHz), 37 GHz (37-38.6 GHz), and 39 GHz (38.6-40 GHz) bands being freed for licensed use and a new unlicensed band at 64- 71 GHz created (adding this to the existing WiGig band from 57-64 GHz to create 14 GHz of contiguous unlicensed spectra). This, in short, creates significant opportunities for those working in this sector.

    Rolling Out mmWave Frequencies for 5G

    Using mmWave as the new radio modem, which is the big difference from 4G, should have three key phases.

    In the short to medium term – i.e. over the next 2-3 years – we see the use of mmWave frequencies being used to deliver 5G infrastructure.

    There are already several projects going on for this, some of which we’re working on to deliver backhaul and access. These projects will lead to technologies that can be deployed rapidly to enhance capacity, and in some cases direct services to customers.

    Verizon, for example, is already talking about millimetre wave mesh technology and this is very similar to what we’re doing.

    Self-optimization, through methods like open flow, will obviously play a pivotal role in managing these networks.

    Beyond that, so in the medium to long term (3-5 years) we’ll see these mmWave technologies getting onto end-customer devices. WiGig, being the most established of the mmWave technologies, will happen first.

    If you look to beyond 2020, you will see 28 GHz technology arrive in handsets. Samsung, for example, has spent a lot of time developing technology for this and will find its way into handsets in due course.

    If you look at what is happening in the WiGig world, the next set of standards from the IEEE is the 802.11ay standard, which gives data rates in the tens and twenties of gigabits. We’ll also see 4k and 8k streaming technologies being deployed as well.

    The Data Rate Roadmap

    As 28 GHz frequencies begin to be adopted by handsets, users will see a significant improvement in performance.

    Using 28 GHz cellular connections will mean that 1Gbps is eminently achievable, and companies like Samsung have already delivered more than this. As you go up to the higher frequencies, WiGig R1 operates up to 4Gb. Wave 2 will go to 8Gb, which is where our baseband (using 64 QAM technology) delivers.

    If we move to .11ay this doubles the bandwidth and capacity using MIMO, delivering in the region of 30Gbps.

    To stream 4K video from services like Netflix, you can use compression technologies – H.264. Through this you can deliver 4K-like resolution on ultra HD TVs over a 50Mbps connection. H.265 allows you to deliver maximum quality (still compressed) video at 200Mbps.

    The problem with compression, however, is latency. For video that’s not an issue, but it is for gaming. Typically, an H.265 decode stream can be 30-40ms, which is unsuitable for gaming. If you then look at uncompressed 4K video for gaming, then you get interesting bit rates – in the order of 10-20 Gbps transmission being needed.

    5G is the cohesive structure that will allow a huge range of wireless and wired technologies to integrate seamlessly with improved quality of service (speed, availability, latency) over what’s available today.

    Reply
46. September 29, 2016 at 10:09 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wireless infrastructure ecosystem 2016-2030 forecast covers macrocell RAN, small cells, C-RAN, RRH, DAS, Carrier Wi-Fi, mobile core, backhaul/fronthaul segments
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/wireless-infrastructure-ecosystem-2016-2030-forecast-covers-macrocell-ran-small-cells-c-ran-rrh-das-.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September262016&eid=289644432&bid=1538204

    The term “Wireless Network Infrastructure” has conventionally been associated with macrocell RAN (Radio Access Network) and mobile core segments of mobile operator networks. However, the scope of the term is expanding as mobile operators increase their investments in Heterogeneous Network or HetNet infrastructure such as small cells, carrier Wi-Fi and DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems), to cope with increasing capacity and coverage requirements.

    In addition, mobile operators are keen to shift towards a C-RAN (Centralized RAN) architecture, which centralizes baseband functionality to be shared across a large number of distributed radio nodes. In comparison to standalone clusters of base stations, C-RAN provides significant performance and economic benefits such as baseband pooling, enhanced coordination between cells, virtualization, network extensibility and energy efficiency.

    Due to a decline in macrocell RAN infrastructure spending, SNS Research estimates that the wireless network infrastructure market will remain relatively flat through 2020, with annual investments of over $61 Billion.

    Reply
47. September 29, 2016 at 10:13 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    AT&T Labs’ Project AirGig nears millimeter wave field trials for delivering ultra-fast wireless broadband over power lines
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/at-t-labs-project-airgig-nears-millimeter-wave-field-trials-for-delivering-ultra-fast-wireless-broad.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_CablingNews_September262016&eid=289644432&bid=1538204

    AT&T has unveiled its Project AirGig, billed as “a transformative technology that could one day deliver low-cost, multi-gigabit wireless internet speeds using power lines.”

    AT&T unveiled today Project AirGig, a transformative technology from AT&T Labs that could one day deliver low-cost, multi-gigabit wireless internet speeds using power lines.

    We’re deep in the experimentation phase. This technology will be easier to deploy than fiber, can run over license-free spectrum and can deliver ultra-fast wireless connectivity to any home or handheld wireless device. We designed Project AirGig literally from the ground up to be both practical and transformational. Our initial and ongoing testing at AT&T outdoor facilities has been positive. We expect to kick off our first field trials in 2017.

    As part of Project AirGig, AT&T Labs invented low-cost plastic antennas and devices located along the power line to regenerate millimeter wave (mmWave) signals that can be used for 4G LTE and 5G multi-gigabit mobile and fixed deployments. These patent-pending devices can mean low hardware and deployment costs while maintaining the highest signal quality. We think we’ve come up with an approach that we believe will be unique in our industry.

    Project AirGig can also be a benefit to utility companies. It could enable and expand a variety of smart-grid applications. It could also allow for early detection of line integrity issues, such as encroaching tree branches. Power companies could use it to pinpoint specific locations, down to the line segment, where proactive maintenance could prevent problems. It could also support utility companies’ meter, appliance and usage control systems. It has the potential to be a win for our customers and a win for the utility companies.

    Reply
48. September 29, 2016 at 11:00 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Report evaluates global data center technical furniture market
    http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/09/report-evaluates-global-data-center-technical-furniture-market.html?cmpid=Enl_CIM_DataCenters_September272016&eid=289644432&bid=1539275

    The Global Data Center Technical Furniture Market (Rack, PDU, General Construction Furniture) – Strategic Assessment and Forecast – Till 2021 report from Beige Market Intelligence

    Market research analysts at Beige Market Intelligence forecast the worldwide data center technical furniture market to grow at a CAGR of around 14.51% during the forecast period. The rack segment is expected to witness the highest growth during the period, as the demand for taller racks will drive the market revenue. Market growth of technical furniture directly depends on the number of new data center construction projects and the number of data center renovation projects, notes the analyst.

    During the period 2018-2019, the report forecasts that almost 80% of renovation projects will be finished, which will have an impact on the volume sales of racks as well as PDUs. Maximum renovation projects and new projects are going for fluid leak detection and seismic isolation platforms also.

    The report covers the companies operating in the entire value chain of the market. Major players identified within the report are Blackbox Network Services, Eaton, Emerson Network Power, Rittal, and Schneider Electric. The report also covers emerging vendors in the market such as Belden, Chatsworth, CyberPower Systems, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Pentair, and Raritan

    Reply
49. September 29, 2016 at 11:04 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    A major change in smartphone RF filters and front ends as 5G approaches
    http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4442660/A-major-change-in-smartphone-RF-filters-and-front-ends-as-5G-approaches?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20160928&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20160928&elqTrackId=83cc76b3ef774fd4808de7d0f2dab9e3&elq=387eeabaf7a048f4bbed89c3bee4facf&elqaid=34047&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=29766

    The ongoing challenge of multiband/multistandard RF solutions for smartphones requires the addition of more bands into the same or smaller physical space in the handset. In addition, performance must improve in the next generation of smartphones.

    In long-term evolution (LTE) carrier aggregation (CA) and beyond, the need for multiple bands operating simultaneously through one antenna necessitates so many added challenges for filters and duplexers. Isolation loss and linearity are probably the most difficult to achieve. Reconfigurable radios are also another path which can be investigated going forward. With the radio spectrum becoming more crowded, smart cognitive radios are being looked at. The problem is that mobile phone manufacturers do not like having to add new models to keep up with bandwidth needs. This is not very cost effective.

    Tunable filters might be able to alleviate the design problems facing engineers that will have a good fit in a small, low power handset.

    In today’s RF design community, engineers have been able to design a single Power Amplifier (PA) which is capable of handling multiple technology modes like CDMA, LTE, W-CDMA and multiple frequencies and bands. This is the Multi-Mode/Multi-Band (MMMB) PA. A filter is needed for each RF path, so this adds to the extra cost in the handset.

    The infinite synthesized networks (ISN)

    Resonant has managed to combine modern filter theory, finite element modeling for both Electro-Magnetic and Acoustic types, and an innovative set of optimization algorithms

    Now designers are able to greatly reduce development time and complexity since the optimization can now be done on a computer instead of using high costs of multiple iterations in the fab.

    Reconfigurable radios2

    This architecture for the radio can increase the efficiency of spectrum usage as well as possibly lower cost in wireless handsets. Current multi-standard radios hardware and software architectures will not cut it when the next generation number of standards must greatly increase.

    Software Defined Radios (SDR) have been suggested by some as a possible solution here. The problem with this solution is that it will require more heavy demands on the RF section and will need higher dynamic range and the SDR will have much higher power needs from the power supply.

    Enter the reconfigurable radio that will be able to select multiple bands. This solution architecture will integrate tunable passive filters into the transceiver front end

    An alternate RF receiver design3

    In the 5G Internet of Everything (IoE), cell phone users will need to get information on demand anytime, anywhere. This would be a battery life killer for a handheld battery-operated device.

    The paper “RF receiver design for IoE applications” proposes an RF receiver design using a translational circuit in a different receiver architecture

    Up until now RF receivers for GSM and LTE high-performance needs were the targets for such an architecture. Now, would it be possible to further lower the power consumption while maintaining acceptable performance in LTE, LTE-A, and ultimately 5G? To be determined.

    Reply
50. September 29, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Carmakers, Telecom Players Join Forces on 5G
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330525&

    MUNICH—In a cross-industry alliance, Audi, BMW and Daimler along with telecommunications equipment providers Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia as well as semiconductor vendors Intel and Qualcomm will bundle their R&D resources to evolve, test and promote communications solutions for connected mobility.

    The efforts will focus on the development of 5G mobile technologies.

    The “5G Automotive Association” announced to develop, test and promote communications solutions, support standardization and accelerate the commercial availability of such solutions.

    The 5G mobile networks the partners plan to roll out will also include V2X applications – but not on the basis of the widespread IEE 802.11p standard currently favored by many players. But instead it is based on mobile networks, cloud connectivity and cellular connectivity (C-V2X).

    Reply