In the end of 2015 there were 3.2 billion people online. 67% of Americans now have broadband at home, compared to 70% in 2013, and 13% connect via smartphone only vs 8% in 2013; smartphone penetration in US at 68%. The share of Americans with broadband at home has plateaued, and more rely only on their smartphones for online access. We can see downtick in home high-speed adoption has taken place at the same time there has been an increase in “smartphone-only” adults – those who own a smartphone that they can use to access the internet, but do not have traditional broadband service at home. The American broadband market is notoriously oligopolistic with the majority of citizens offered limited choice, especially at the high-speed end, complete with high monthly fees.
Fixed Internet speeds increase – even without fiber to every house. We will start to see more 1Gbps Internet connections – and not all of them need fiber (2014 was the year of “fiber everywhere”). For example Comcast ‘rolls out’ ‘world’s first’ DOCSIS 3.1 modem, pumping 1Gbps over existing cable. It should, in theory, be quick and easy to get 1Gbps broadband to your home using DOCSIS 3.1, but I expect we will see only very few experimental roll-outs of the service in 2016. The beauty of DOCSIS 3.1 is that it is backwards compatible.
Mobile networks continue to lead the way when it comes to connecting people for the next generation of communications: Mobile subscriptions are now at 7.1 billion globally, and more than 95% of the world’s population are now within reach of a mobile network signal. Mobile cellular subscriptions have overtaken fixed phone subs, mobile broadband subscriptions and households with Internet access. This development most probably causes expectations that Network jobs are hot so salaries are expected to rise in 2016 as especially wireless network engineers, network admins, and network security pros are needed.
There are still some 350 million people globally who have no way of Internet access, mobile or otherwise, and there will be some race to get connections to at least some of those people. High stakes in broadband satellites race as building a satellite network and associated ground-based facilities and user terminals to provide Internet access to even the remotest and poorest parts of the world will be a huge technical, regulatory, and business challenge. Data versions of low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellite networks started appearing in the late 1990’s, followed with mobile telephony via LEO satellites, but never managed to deliver on the hype—partly because of technology constraints or poor business models. Over years there have been huge technology advances in satellites: they can now be made much smaller and lighter, so launch costs are significantly lower. Also component costs associated with the different terminals and handsets have plummeted. These factors have clearly helped the business proposition, but there are still challenges.
There will be new radio frequencies available for wireless communications thanks to WRC-15 Spectrum Decisions: In addition to confirming the use of the 700 MHz band (technically 694 to 790 MHz) for mobile broadband services in ITU Region 1, which includes Europe, Africa, the Middle east and Central Asia, delegates also agreed to harmonize 200 MHz of the C-band (3.4 to 3.6 GHz) to improve capacity in urban areas and used in small cells, and the L-band (1427-1518 MHz) to improve overall coverage and better capacity. So the mobile broadband sector now has, at least in the short to medium term, three globally harmonized bands. There was also decision for spectrum to be used for wireless avionics intra-communications (WAIC).
5G gets started. Just five years after the first 4G smartphone hit the market, the wireless industry is already preparing for 5G: cell phone carriers, smartphone chip makers and the major network equipment companies are working on developing 5G network technology for their customers. There are still many challenges as 5G infrastructure must be able to serve the billions of internet-connected objects of small appliances in addition to large consumers of information.700MHz harmonization is a key feature in operators’ plans to begin rolling out 5G services and C-band is also likely to be used for 5G. After 2016 to get the fastest promised 5G speeds very high frequency bands that will need to be deployed for 5G services, mainly above 24 GHz.
5G will not only be about a new air interface with faster speeds, but it will also address network congestion, energy efficiency, cost, reliability, and connection to billions of people and devices. Many believe that a critical success factor for 5G will be a fully revamped TCP/IP stack and a group of major vendors has put forward an open source TCP/IP stack OpenFastPath they say is designed to reinvigorate the ancient and rather crusty protocol. Cyber security research will be important important in 2016 as 5G networks will be critical infrastructure, on top of which for example. transport, industry, health and the new operators set up their business around 2020. Growing network virtualization functionality and programmability are both an opportunity and a threat to security. Keep in mind that everything connected to the Internet can, and will be hacked.
Heightened interest in the Internet of Things (IoT) and of Everything (IoE) will continue in 2016. IoT networks heat up in 2016 as low-power wide area networks for the Internet of Things have been attracting new entrants and investors at a heady pace with unannounced offerings still in the pipeline for 2016 trying to enable new IoT apps by undercutting costs and battery life for cellular and WiFi. There are many competing technologies in this field, and some will turn out to be winners and some losers. Remember that IoT is forecasted to be 50 billion connections by 2020, so there is lots of business opportunities for many IoT technologies.
2016 will be another booming year for Ethernet. Wi-Fi is obviously more convenient than wired Ethernet cables for average mobile user. But Ethernet still offers advantages — faster speeds, lower latency, and no wireless interference problems. Ethernet matters a lot with desktop PCs, laptops at desks, game consoles, TV-streaming boxes, and other devices – like when building backbone networks and data centers. Assuming it’s easy enough to plug the devices in with an Ethernet cable, you’ll get a more consistently solid connection. Yes, Ethernet is better.
The augmented global demand for data centers is the key driver for the growth in Global Ethernet Switch and Router Market 2016-2020.25G, 50G and 100G Ethernet is finding it’s place in in the Data Center. Experts predict that the largest cloud operators will shift to 100G Ethernet fabrics while cost-efficient 25G and 50G will remain the workhorses for most of the other well-known data-center companies.The increasing usage of advanced technologies, such as 10GbE ports, by enterprises and universities for educational and official purposes, is a significant factor in the enterprise and campus segment. The key players in this segment will be Arista Network, Brocade Communications, Cisco, Dell, HP, Huawei and Juniper Network. The 2015 Ethernet Roadmap shows a roadmap for physical links through 2020 and looks into the future terabit speeds as well.
I expect 2016 will be a year of widespread product adoption around 2.5 and 5 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) bandwidth over twisted-pair copper cabling (2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T) as transition to next generation 802.11ac Wave 2 access points will drive significant demand for 2.5G ports. Enterprise operators are looking to fill the gap between 1G and 10G over this legacy unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling (Category 5e/Category 6) that is installed all over. IEEE 802.11ac is 3x faster and 6x more power efficient than its predecessor, 802.11n, while remaining interoperable with 802.11n. Rapid adoption of 802.11ac is run by fact that tablets and smartphones are becoming ubiquitous in the workplace.
Driven by IEEE standards, Ethernet hits the road in 2016: A new trend emerging in the automotive market in 2016 is the migration of Ethernet, a tried-and-true computer network technology, into connected cars. The proliferation of advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features in many vehicles is also expected to expand Ethernet use. The completion of IEEE 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 standards are both expected. The emergence of the 1000BASE-T1 standard in mid-2016 provides a roadmap for automotive Ethernet evolution. Ethernet, starting in 2016, will be seen as the dominant in-vehicle network backbone.
Prepare for the PAM4 phase shift. PAM4 (four-level pulse-amplitude modulation) will be coming to wider use in 2016 because we all the time need faster communications links between ICs inside devices. NRZ won’t work at 56 Gbps and it seems that PAM-4 is the way to go as PAM4 doubles the bit rate for a given baud rate over NRZ. At 56 Gbps, 400 Gbps Ethernet can be realized with four lanes of PAM4 but might require eight 28 Gbps lanes with NRZ. PAM-4 is also gaining traction in 28 Gbps links. The bad news is that PAM4 trades off bandwidth for SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) meaning it is more sensitive to noise and timing skew than NRZ. PAM4 does bring SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) to the forefront of design issues. With four voltage level and three eyes, PAM4 requires new design techniques for recovering embedded clocks and for identifying bits in symbols. PAM4 will be used mainly on copper links, but it can be also used with fiber optic links, which has it’s own set of challenges. These and other issues are forging new techniques for how to measure and simulate PAM4 signals.
Cloud Scale Networking term will be seen. The virtualization of networks, storage, and servers is reshaping the way organizations use IT. Cloud computing plays an essential role in this process as cloud delivers the additional capacity required to satisfy growing demand to an enterprise or small business from a third party. The amount of data volume carried by networks has exploded. Cisco estimated last year that by 2017, data centers will handle some 7.7 zetabytes of IP traffic, two thirds of which would be on account of cloud computing. Total global data centre traffic is projected to triple by the end of 2019 (from 3.4 to 10.4 Zettabytes). Legacy, tiered, network designs can be replaced with scalable flat network topologies. They can be future-proofed using open, scalable SDN and NFV platforms. The network is cloud computing’s final frontier, at technology, people and process levels. Service providers seek to reduce costs, create new business opportunities, and introduce new services more quickly.
The “software-ization” of Telco and increasing use of pen-Source Networking will continue in 2016. In 2015, the adoption of OpenStack, OpenDaylight, OpNFV for software and services, and Open Compute for hardware will supported more virtualized, more open source network computing platforms and architecture. The trend will continue. SDN provides control to the enterprises and carriers on the complete network through a single logical point, thereby simplifying the network design and operation. The traditional, one-vendor, proprietary solution is transitioning to solutions involving many suppliers – and this offers customers with significant cost savings and performance optimization. Growing network virtualization functionality and programmability are both an opportunity and a threat to security. Keep in mind that everything connected to the Internet can, and will be hacked.
After COP21 climate change summit reaches deal in Paris there will be also interest in thinking how clean our networking is. It is being reported that communications technologies are responsible for about 2-4% of all of carbon footprint generated by human activity. The needs for communications and faster speeds is increasing in this every day more and more connected world – penetration of smart devices there was a tremendous increase in the amount of mobile data traffic from 2010 to 2014. When IoT is forecasted to be 50 billion connections by 2020, with the current technologies this would increase power consumption considerably. The trend to look for greener technologies is tackling first mobile networks because of their high energy use. Base stations and switching centers could count for between 60% and 85% of the energy used by an entire communication system. More and more facilities, especially big names like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, have looked to renewable energy.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
David Ruddock / Android Police:
Google is rolling out RCS advanced messaging to Android devices on Sprint, but Google’s RCS doesn’t work with RCS on AT&T, T-Mobile, and other carriers — There has been much noise made about Google’s launch of its RCS messaging platform via the Messenger app on Sprint today.
The RCS Mirage: “Advanced Messaging” is a mess in the US, and Google’s “standard” is just one more
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/the-rcs-mirage-advanced-messaging-is-a-mess-in-the-us-and-googles-standard-is-just-one-more/
There has been much noise made about Google’s launch of its RCS messaging platform via the Messenger app on Sprint today. Sprint announced it would support Google’s RCS platform, formerly known as Jibe, back in February, though, and remains the only US provider to do so.
But T-Mobile and AT&T have launched RCS messaging, right? Yes. But their versions don’t work with Google’s (Sprint’s) RCS. And AT&T’s RCS messaging doesn’t work with T-Mobile’s, and vice versa. And there’s no indication that this will change any time soon. While both T-Mobile and AT&T have signed on to the GSMA’s soon-to-be-published intercompatible RCS messaging standard, carriers seem much more interested in making “advanced messaging” a carrier feature rather than the universal SMS replacement it was developed to be.
And so we have competing strategies. Google would prefer everyone just support its RCS client, based on the GSMA’s universal profile, and allow users on any carrier to utilize its features, and carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile would rather see the development of a negotiated “universal profile” that allows cross-compatibility of core features, but not necessarily for all features, just the ones the carriers can agree are important enough to need, but not that they’d maybe like to keep to themselves as “value-add” incentives for their subscribers to stay on the network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oscilloscope option analyzes 100 GbE link-training signals
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4442953/Oscilloscope-option-analyzes-100-GbE-link-training-signals?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161107&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161107&elqTrackId=650e4d0937524c75843c36703e40455f&elq=98986146868c4d3dbc1060889388a3d6&elqaid=34695&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30283
Connections speeds never cease to increase and now 100 Gbit/s lanes are coming to 400 Gbit/s Ethernet. Although 400 GbE links will be fiber, their 100 Gbit/s per-lane signals must
still travel over copper backplanes and interconnects.
Such high data rates require equalization (pre-emphasis and de-emphasis) of signals to compensate for transmission losses. Because each link is unique, a transmitter and receiver must negotiate how the transmitter will launch a signal into the channel to optimize BER (bit-error ratio).
Tektronix has added a 100 GbE Link-Training option (HSSLTA) to its 70 GHz DPO70000SX oscilloscope. The option lets you see how well the negotiating process works and where it needs optimizing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OFS receives TV’s Emmy award for ‘pioneering invention and deployment of fiber-optic cable’
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/ofs-receives-tv-s-emmy-award-for-pioneering-invention-and-deployment-of-fiber-optic-cable.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-07
OFS, a global designer, manufacturer and supplier of fiber-optic networking technology, announced that it has been honored with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for contributions toward the “Pioneering Invention and Deployment of Fiber Optic Cable.”
The Academy says that Emmy Awards for Technology and Engineering “are presented to companies for engineering developments so significant or innovative in nature that they materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television.”
According to a press release, “The award to OFS recognizes the unique, groundbreaking and patented fiber-optic technology inventions by Bell Labs/Western Electric (OFS predecessor companies) and OFS’ role in continuing to develop game-changing technologies that have refined and enhanced the use of fiber-optic cable for broadcast television.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Editorial: Wi-Fi Alliance calls in the IEEE’s 60-GHz neglected stepchild
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/10/editorial-wi-fi-alliance-calls-in-the-ieee-s-60-ghz-neglected-stepchild.html
The IEEE 802.11ad working group fussed over its development for years before finally ratifying the standard in December of 2012. An organization called the WiGig Alliance was formed in 2009 to promote the use of 802.11ad. They dubbed it WiGig. The WiGig Alliance developed a certification program that apparently was never implemented. Then in 2013, the WiGig Alliance merged with the Wi-Fi Alliance, putting WiGig under Wi-Fi management.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RCN DOCSIS 3.1 Gigabit Internet Goes Live in Chicago
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/rcn-docsis-3-1-gigabit-internet-goes-live-in-chicago.html?cmpid=enlmobile1182016&eid=289644432&bid=1580850
RCN has announced the immediate availability of DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit Internet speeds to residents in all of its Chicagoland service areas, including Chicago, Skokie and Lincolnwood. Pricing starts at $69.99/month for 12 months and requires no contracts. The company first announced its DOCSIS 3.1 plans for Chicago on Oct. 1, and launched a similar 1 Gbps service in New York City last week.
“The future of Internet speed has arrived with 1 Gigabit. The need for speed is real and only getting stronger with multiple devices, over-the-top (OTT) video content, smart homes and more,” s
DOCSIS 3.1 deployments have begun ramping up lately, with more and more operators going live with the technology, which uses existing hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) plant rather than costly fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rebuilds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DOCSIS 3.1
All about speed
http://www.veexinc.com/en-us/docsis31
DOCSIS 3.1-powered broadband services present many challenges. Service providers face huge deadlines to deploy capable infrastructure, technicians are intimidated by the technology and complexity of services to be tested, and demanding customers expect better than a satisfactory experience.
After a fast-tracked specification development process, multiple interops, and several product announcements, DOCSIS 3.1 appears ready for its debut.
With CableLabs preparing to approve the first DOCSIS 3.1 equipment and cable operators preparing to start deploying the new broadband spec, the cable industry is poised to storm into the Gigabit Era. DOCSIS 3.1 offers the tantalizing promise of data downstream speeds as fast as 10 Gbit/s and upstream speeds of 1 Gbit/s or more, along with higher bandwidth capacity for other new IP services, greater operational efficiencies, improved quality control and lower costs. But cable operators also face some daunting challenges in rolling out D3.1, including the adoption of new technologies, new equipment, new procedures, and new testing and monitoring tools, as well as the need for extensive staff training.
Test and Measurement maintains its status as mission-critical to cable operators. In fact, since the advent of triple play in the early 2000’s, test and measurement’s importance has grown. With the emergence of DOCSIS 3.1, a whole new generation of broadband test and measurement equipment is on the horizon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Full Duplex DOCSIS® 3.1 Technology: Raising the Ante with Symmetric Gigabit Service
http://www.cablelabs.com/full-duplex-docsis-3-1-technology-raising-the-ante-with-symmetric-gigabit-service
Building on state of the art technology, ongoing DOCSIS 3.1 technology deployments have squarely set the cable industry on the path to deliver Gigabit services over HFC networks.
But there’s more to come! A newly unveiled project at CableLabs illustrates how DOCSIS 3.1 technology provides the basis for continued evolution of system capacities by supporting symmetric multi-Gigabit service over the cable network. During its recent 2016 Winter Conference, CableLabs unveiled a Full Duplex DOCSIS technology which applies emerging techniques from wireless networks to achieve a breakthrough increase in the upstream speeds for DOCSIS delivered broadband service.
How is full duplex different from existing technologies?
Existing technologies mostly use either Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) or Time Division Duplexing (TDD). In FDD, upstream and downstream (or uplink and downlink in the terms of the wireless world) traffic operate separately in dedicated parts of the spectrum. In current DOCSIS network deployments, the lower part of the spectrum is dedicated for upstream traffic and the upper part of the spectrum is dedicated for downstream traffic. In TDD, the upstream and downstream traffic share the same spectrum, but take turns in using the spectrum, similar to how Wi-Fi, or DSL, operate. In Full Duplex communication, the upstream and downstream traffic use the same spectrum at the same time, doubling the efficiency of spectrum use. A DOCSIS 3.1 Full Duplex network provides the peak speeds and flexibility of TDD solutions, but one-ups both TDD and FDD with double the capacity.
Using a combination of Passive HFC and the self-interference cancellation and intelligent scheduling of DOCSIS 3.1 technology, CableLabs has built a solution that proves the viability of full duplex communication.
These developments are expected to yield DOCSIS 3.1 network performance of up to 10 Gbps symmetrical on 1 GHz HFC networks, with the potential for even higher performance by utilizing spectrum that is currently available for future expansion above 1 GHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NBN hails ‘game-changing’ DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit speeds on HFC
http://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-hails-game-changing-docsis-3-1-gigabit-speeds-on-hfc/
NBN has said that new technology allowing for the utilisation of DOCSIS 3.1 brings HFC alongside FttP in terms of broadband speeds available to users.
The National Broadband Network (NBN) company has hailed new technology unveiled by worldwide hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) technology standards group CableLabs will facilitate DOCSIS 3.1 on HFC networks which would allow symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds for users.
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1 supersedes the current DOCSIS 3.0 standard, allowing for faster speeds by freeing up around 50 percent capacity on the cable through more efficient transmission of data over the available spectrum.
In comparison to frequency-division duplex (FDD) and time-division duplex (TDD), full duplex DOCSIS sees both downstream and upstream traffic share the same spectrum. Symmetrical multi-gigabit broadband services are hence made possible through DOCSIS 3.1 technology when combined with full duplex DOCSIS.
“A DOCSIS 3.1 Full Duplex network provides the peak speeds and flexibility of TDD solutions, but one-ups both TDD and FDD with double the capacity,” Hamzeh said.
“These developments are expected to yield DOCSIS 3.1 network performance of up to 10Gbps symmetrical on 1GHz HFC networks, with the potential for even higher performance by utilizing spectrum that is currently available for future expansion above 1GHz.”
Full duplex DOCSIS won’t be launched for some time, with HFC spectrum bands to be opened up to 6GHz for this.
According to NBN, DOCSIS 3.1 will work across both Telstra and Optus’ HFC networks
HFC will connect 4 million Australian premises in total, with 3.6 million of these coming from the old Telstra HFC network.
“The beauty of DOCSIS 3.1 is that it is backwards compatible, so no digging up streets or backyards,”
Chinese technology giant Huawei announced that it will upgrade Denmark’s fixed broadband network to deliver download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second by the end of 2017.
Denmark was also the first country in Europe to have a DOCSIS 3.0 network deployed, which was installed by incumbent multi-service operator TDC.
Denmark’s new DOCSIS 3.1 Giga Coax network implements orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), which carries data on multiple parallel data streams to increase transmission by 50 percent in comparison to DOCSIS 3.0.
Existing coaxial cables can be upgraded to DOCSIS 3.1 to offer bandwidth of up to 10Gbps down and 2Gbps up.
Huawei is providing its distributed DOCSIS 3.1 Distributed Converged Cable Access Platform (D-CCAP) solution [PDF] in order to digitise and reuse existing optical fibres and analog components in the network, making flexible and reliable capacity expansion possible. D-CCAP can also be used on the same platform as FttP technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
XG-Fast technology, which delivered 11Gbps over a 50-metre run on two bonded pairs of Category 6 cable.
Using a standard drop cable, Nokia, in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, said XG-Fast is capable of delivering an aggregate rate in excess of 8Gbps on 50-metre runs.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-hails-game-changing-docsis-3-1-gigabit-speeds-on-hfc/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The EU supports – spectrum sharing provides power to wireless
Radio Frequency ranges are met pace of new solutions IoT sensors 5G networks. Their collaboration would improve the utilization of the spectrum, rated Turku University researchers. The group has received the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Award, which supports the radio spectrum sharing technology and research.
” Spectrum allocation system (spectrum-sharing) have so far been centrally managed. However, in Turku we developed an autonomous decentralized system, which will optimize their own operations, ” says the Turku University of Applied Sciences Senior Lecturer Reijo Ekman.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/10/eu-tukee-taajuuksien-yhteiskaytto-tehoa-langattomiin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Route to 5G – ARM Whitepaper
https://community.arm.com/docs/DOC-11331
The mobile phone has seen explosive growth over the last two decades to become an essential part of our everyday lives. Right from the outset, ARM® has been at the heart of these devices enabling ever more sophisticated capabilities whilst maintaining a focus on maximising battery life through industry leading power efficiency. The complexity of smartphones is not often fully appreciated, with the average smartphone containing over 10 ARM based processors managing functions such as touch screen, sensor processing, location/positioning, camera, graphics, applications as well as the ever growing plethora of connectivity such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE.
With the wireless industry gearing-up to standardise the next generation of mobile broadband devices, or so called ‘LTE-Advanced Pro’ and ‘5G’, this whitepaper takes a look at what that will mean in terms of technologies, challenges and the use cases that it will ultimately enable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TV White Spaces Market to Reach $53 Million by 2022
http://btreport.net/articles/2016/11/tv-white-spaces-market-to-reach-53-million-by-2022.html?cmpid=enlmobile11102016
According to MarketsandMarkets, the global TV white space market was valued at $1.2 million in 2015 and is expected to reach approximately $53.1 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 74.30% during the forecast period.
The major factors driving the growth of the market include providing low-cost broadband to remote and non-line-of-sight regions. Rural Internet access held the largest share of the TV white space market in 2015. That market is expected to grow at a significant rate between 2016 and 2022.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Skyworks Intros DOCSIS 3.1 Silicon
http://btreport.net/articles/2016/11/skyworks-intros-docsis-3-1-silicon.html?cmpid=enlmobile11102016
Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ:SWKS) has launched its portfolio of cable TV semiconductors for DOCSIS 3.1 and EuroDOCSIS 3.1 cable applications. Skyworks’ suite of products includes RF amplifiers for frequencies up to 1218 MHz, to be marketed primarily in in Europe. Skyworks says it has already secured a design win with a European CATV OEM.
Skyworks’ DOCSIS solutions include the ACA1216, a 1,218 MHz CATV MMIC power doubler amplifier (12V), and the ACA2429, a 1,218 MHz high output CATV power doubler amplifier (24V).
Tomi Engdahl says:
SCTE OKs Codec, Voice Standards
http://btreport.net/articles/2016/11/scte-oks-codec-voice-standards.html?cmpid=enlmobile11102016
The SCTE has approved several standards around audio/video codecs and voice services.
All six standards are available at http://www.scte.org/SCTE/Standards/Download/SCTE/Standards/Download_SCTE_Standards.aspx.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Faster SerDes For More Efficient Data Centers
http://semiengineering.com/faster-serdes-for-more-efficient-data-centers/
The Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analytics, in-memory computing and machine learning have resulted in ever-larger amounts of data being generated and analyzed. In many systems today, so much data is transferred across networks that data movement is itself becoming a critical performance bottleneck.
The industry is currently pursuing a number of techniques to bolster performance and improve power efficiency, including acceleration with FPGAs and other silicon, as well as Near Data Processing to minimize data movement and energy consumption. Concurrently, data centers routinely upgrade critical infrastructure, replacing older silicon with newer processors and memory that are often equipped with a faster network interfaces utilizing SerDes (Serializer/Deserializer) technology. As SerDes speeds hit 56Gbps and beyond, engineers are grappling with a number of issues, including rising design costs, maintaining good signal integrity by reducing susceptibility to noise and jitter, supporting backwards compatibility for legacy standards and minding the power-performance ratio.
Optimizing performance at the lowest possible power draw and smallest silicon area is one way to successfully design and differentiate high-speed SerDes at 56Gbps and beyond.
The need to support backwards compatibility will heavily influence 56Gbps SerDes designs as well. Eliminating unnecessary features and legacy standards will also be beneficial, but will come at the cost of reducing the number of potential customer applications.
Working closely with customers and partners will remain the most critical part of the SerDes design process.
Achieving higher data rates while balancing power, performance, and cost requirements for high-speed serial links may very well be the most difficult aspect of designing future SerDes cells. Providing this balance will grow ever more important as the industry moves forward, and while this will challenge future SerDes designers, it will also be key to differentiating high-speed SerDes at 56Gbps and beyond for applications such as power efficient data centers and servers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fiber-optic networking stocks plunged in October
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/fiber-optic-networking-stocks-plunged-in-october.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-10&[email protected]&eid=289644432&bid=1584610
Shares of many fiber-optic networking stocks fell hard in October 2016, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Achieves 20Gbps Data Rate Over MMW Radio Spectrum
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/11/10/169232/facebook-achieves-20gbps-data-rate-over-mmw-radio-spectrum
Facebook’s Connectivity Lab has announced that it has achieved data transmission rates of 20Gbps over the millimetre-wave (MMW) section of the radio spectrum; however, the transceiving stations need to be incredibly tightly calibrated to each other
Facebook achieves 20Gbps data rate over radio spectrum
https://thestack.com/cloud/2016/11/10/facebook-achieves-20gbps-data-rate-over-radio-spectrum/
Facebook’s Connectivity Lab has announced that it has achieved data transmission rates of a record-breaking 20Gbps over the millimetre-wave (MMW) section of the radio spectrum; however, the transceiving stations need to be incredibly tightly calibrated to each other, with the team describing the margin for error as equivalent to ‘a baseball pitcher aiming for a strike zone the size of a quarter’.
The announcement on Facebook’s code blog records the ground-breaking transmission as having taken place between two sites in California, one in Malibu and another at Woodland Hills, a distance of 13km (8+ miles).
The equipment used customised components, drawing 105 watts of DC current at both ends, utilising a bandwidth of 2 Ghz, and arriving at a spectral efficiency of 9.8 bits per second per Herz.
The MMW portion of the radio spectrum corresponds to wavelengths in the range 1-10mm – a carrier frequency between 30-300 GHz
The system requires use of a 4-foot parabolic antenna which needs to be aimed at an accuracy of 0.07 degrees in order to achieve 20Gbps data rate over such a long distance
The Connectivity Lab researchers are currently testing a ground-to-air bidirectional link with a Cessna at 20,000 ft, with the intention of flight-testing a 40Gbps two-way link early in 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia takes fast 4G to train track
Nokia says to supply based on the world’s first LTE-R network technology in Korea. The network is able to operate even at speeds of 250 kilometers per hour.
Korean railway operator KRNA (Korea Rail Network Authority) to take the network route between Gangneung and Wonjun cities. It can be used to improve the functioning of the trains, as well as critical data communications and data connections for passengers speed.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5391:nokia-vie-nopean-4g-n-raiteille&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
the 5G cellular market is also heating up, especially in China. Samsung has conducted a 5G prototype trial in China. This was done in conjunction with the China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI).
Source: http://semiengineering.com/the-week-in-review-manufacturing-137/
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Samsung Successfully Conducts 5G Prototype Trial with China Mobile Communication Corporation
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-successfully-conducts-5g-prototype-trial-with-china-mobile-communication-corporation
Tomi Engdahl says:
Waiting For 5G Technology
http://semiengineering.com/waiting-for-5g-technology/
New wireless standard will significantly speed up communication, but dealing with mmWave technology isn’t going to be simple.
For some time, carriers, equipment OEMs and chipmakers have been gearing up for the next-generation wireless standard called 5th generation mobile networks, or 5G.
5G is the follow-on to the current wireless standard known as 4G, or long-term evolution (LTE). It will enable data transmission rates of more than 10Gbps, or 100 times the throughput of LTE. But the big question is whether 5G will disrupt the landscape or fall short of its promises.
Regardless, the 5G market is heating up. Anokiwave, Broadcom, Intel, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Samsung and a growing list of others are developing 5G chips.
But there are a multitude of challenges to deploy a 5G wireless network. For example, although OEMs and chipmakers are developing 5G products, the standards are still not set.
Today’s LTE networks operate from 700 MHz to 3.5 GHz. In comparison, 5G will not only co-exist with LTE, but will also operate in the unlicensed or millimeter wave bands. This involves the band of spectrum between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, which in turn enables more wireless data capabilities.
Initially, 5G will likely operate at 28 GHz (United States) and 39 GHz (Europe). Over time, 5G could involve other spectrum, such as 60 GHz, 71 GHz to 86 GHz, or even 300 GHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world record in the wireless optical link
Fraunhofer Institute researchers have managed to record a new world record for a laser-based communication. 10.45 kilometers shot in the signal, which transferred data by as much as 1.72 terabytes per second.
Terabit optical link is 1550 nanometer wavelength.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5394&via=n&datum=2016-11-14_15:07:59&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drones will design future wireless networks
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/drones-will-design-future-wireless-networks.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-14
Researcher Vasilii Semkin together with a research group at Aalto University and Tampere University of Technology has recently tested in their research work how aerial photographs taken using a so-called drone could be used in designing radio links.
By using both the aerial photographs taken by the drone and photogrammetry software, they were able to create highly detailed 3D models of urban environments. These models can be used in designing radio links.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Entertainment can prevent emergency tasks
The EU directive prohibits the placing customers in an unequal position as users of the network. Now the authorities are afraid that net neutrality requirement may interfere with the use of the police and the medical treatment of mobile broadband.
Collision lock up the motorway. The victim’s electrocardiogram should be sent for analysis, but it does not work. Car municipalities have blocked the network entertainment videos.
EU ordained network neutrality can lead to this. It means that the fun clips are online on the same line with the patient data, because the EU directive prohibits customers prioritization of network connections.
International Telecommunication Union ITU, the mobile broadband authorities would include 700 MHz frequency. The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) is launching an auction at the end of the frequency range without the related official communications to special conditions.
In critical locations such as airports and population centers network authorities should always have access to 10 MHz frequency band for a couple. Elsewhere, the frequency would include operators, which would produce its network for broadband services authorities.
“Public authority in these areas is low and the commercial network congestion risk small. However, operators should develop network coverage and availability. In addition, the traffic authorities would always be the highest priority, “says Tero Pesonen.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/nettiviihde-voi-estaa-hatatehtavat-6599266
Tomi Engdahl says:
GSMA: 5G at risk if governments don’t get their acts together
Spectrum uncertainty giving mobe industry the chills
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/15/gsma_5g_at_risk_if_governments_dont_get_their_acts_together/
The mobile industry’s global lobby, the GSMA, is starting to worry about fragmentation in the 5G market – even before there is one.
There are already hints at disunity in the spectrum market, with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) yet to settle regional arguments about spectrum, while vendors and carriers run well ahead of standards.
At the Brooklyn 5G Summit earlier this year, AT&T warned that operator pre-standard deployments are putting 5G standardisation under pressure.
The long-running dispute over which, if any, proposal for LTE/Wi-Fi convergence is acceptable brought different spectrum factions into sharp relief.
So it’s with good cause that the GSMA has decided 5G needs to be settled soon.
Earlier this year, it published this position paper (PDF) to set out what it believes is needed, namely:
New and harmonised spectrum;
Spectrum allocations below 1 GHz, between 1 GHz and 6 GHz and above 6 GHz;
A focus on licensed spectrum, with unlicensed spectrum to play a complementary role, and coexistence models in higher frequency bands (for example, beyond 24 GHz where satellite and fixed links both have spectrum allocations.
That paper also called for governments to get the issues sorted out in the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference – but it now seems worried that things are moving at the usual glacial pace of international spectrum coordination.
5G Spectrum
Public Policy Position
http://www.gsma.com/spectrum/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GSMA-5G-Spectrum-PPP.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese giants give world another SDN and NFV platform
‘Open-O’ is backed by Huawei, China Mobile, Ericsson and Intel, among others
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/15/huawei_blows_more_vapour_into_the_orchestration_cloud/
If you didn’t think the world needed another Software Defined Networking (SDN) project, bad luck: you’ve got one anyway: it’s called Open-O and hopes to put SDN and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) in the same yoke.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because AT&T also wants to lead the open source world into a combination SDN/NFV – but its project with the Linux Foundation seems to be running late. AT&T’s promise to release its ECOMP – Enhanced Control, Orchestration, Management and Policy platform – came in July.
In fact, Open-O seems to be in much the same boat: it’s announced its first release, but not yet published the code. It apparently involves seven discrete projects and OpenStack, but beyond that, it’s still vapourware.
The China-driven project, under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, got its first public outing with Huawei demonstrating Open-O Sun, its combined SDN/NFV orchestrator, at the Operations Transformation Forum in Wuzhen, China.
Huawei says the project includes code from China Mobile and four other companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 Ways To Protect Your Telecom Network From Hurricanes
http://www.dpstele.com/network-monitoring/hurricane-protect-network-disaster-recovery.php?article_id=61346&m_row_id=1999640&mailing_id=10793&link=C&uni=26378582ab33e8a8a2
There’s really nothing like a hurricane to test your situational awareness
In a hurricane, sites spanning hundreds of miles may be knocked out simultaneously. The whole country is watching as you race against the clock. You have to:
1. Protect your network as the storm rolls in, and
2. Recover as quickly as possible after the storm clears.
Top 3 ways to prepare your network for hurricanes:
1) Monitor 100% of your mission-critical equipment
With each piece of gear you tie into a remote-monitoring system, you improve your situational awareness. During disaster recovery, that pays dividends.
2) Monitor battery voltages & generator fuel levels
When the storm rolls through, you’re probably going to lose commercial power at many of your sites. If you know precisely how much backup power you have, you can use your limited response teams in the best way possible. You can rush to the sites that will need fuel first.
3) Program automatic responses to specific alarms
Some sites may not go fully offline in a hurricane. You might just lose communications to the site. If you’ve programmed the local equipment to handle specific dangers with specific responses, it can protect itself when you’re not available.
Tomi Engdahl says:
System tests PAM4 signals to 56 and 64 Gbaud
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4443000/System-tests-PAM4-signals-to-56-and-64-Gbaud?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161114&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161114&elqTrackId=cc2de1daa6764cb5a194b15357f41bfa&elq=9f5132c47eef44d98f287cb425deb12d&elqaid=34787&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30356
With 400 Gbps Ethernet (400 GbE) standards currently in development, Anritsu has released a test system that generates PAM4-modulated data streams as speeds up to 64 Gbaud, that’s 112 Gbps. It can analyze signals for 400 GbE up to PAM4 56 Gbaud. 400 GbE standards define backplane communications that consist of four lanes at 100 Gbps each. For datacenter use, optical cables will carry 400 GbE using 16×25 Gbps lanes.
The figure below shows the system. It consists of an MP1800A Signal Analyzer, a G0374A 64 Gbaud PAM4 2-bit DAC (digital-to-analog converter), and an MP1862A 56 Gbaud demultiplexer (64 Gbaud with MP1862A-001).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Suri: Network market turns
The network market will shrink this year and the cost-cutting program will cost more than expected. However, the next few years, market networks in turn growth, Suri assured.
At present, online businesses overall market size of EUR 113 billion. Next year, the market actually continues to shrink at about 110 billion.
- After this, the market will turn to moderate growth. But I saw this huge market means moderate growth, measured in terms of money great, Suri says.
According to the forecast network devices sold in 2020 to about 120 billion euros. This means an annual increase of about 1.2 percent. In four years, the market is growing by seven billion euros. For this extra cake all manufacturers compete severely.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5402:nokian-suri-verkkomarkkina-kaantyy&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aquantia unveils ‘breakthrough’ 100G copper technology for hyperscale data centers and cloud environments
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/10/aquantia-unveils-breakthrough-100g-copper-technology-for-hyperscale-data-centers-and-cloud-environme.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-15
Aquantia Corp., a specialist in high-speed Ethernet connectivity for data centers and enterprise infrastructure, has unveiled its QuantumStream technology, which the company says defines “a new class of high-performance connectivity architecture that has the potential to revolutionize next-generation hyperscale data centers.”
The QuantumStream technology, which is being developed by Aquantia through a strategic collaboration with GlobalFoundries, creates a 100 Gbit/s bandwidth all-electrical technology to deliver low latency to networking applications.
The QuantumStream technology is geared for short-distance links including: 100G over 3m direct attach cable SFP; 400G over 3m direct attach cable QSFP; and 800G over 3m direct attach cable OSFP. The new technology is aimed at inter- and intra-rack connectivity up to 3 meters, complementing longer reach optical connectivity solutions used in hyperscale data centers. “To date, industry watchers have projected that only optical connectivity will serve the needs of 100Gbit/s and beyond. This presents a huge barrier since optical technologies are intrinsically higher cost,” said Faraj Aalaei, CEO of Aquantia.
“Aquantia’s technology delivers a quantum leap in bandwidth performance over a single lane of copper previously believed to be solely the realm of optical techniques. Our expertise in complex high-speed copper transceivers, coupled with the legacy of robust SerDes leadership with GlobalFoundries’ 14nm FinFET technology will enable a continuous roadmap to the required 100G connectivity and provide our customers with the best combination to differentiate and stay ahead of evolving marketplace demands. The availability of this technology will enable system vendors and data center operators to push towards higher performance and newer topologies in hyperscale architectures while keeping the reliability, low-cost and ease-of-use of electrical-based interconnects.”
Under the new collaboration, GlobalFoundries is providing access to its 56 Gbit/s IP core to Aquantia’s team of experts. Aquantia combines the 56 Gbit/s IP core with its patented Mixed-Mode Signal Processing (MMSP) and Multi-Core Signal Processing (MCSP) architectural innovations of high-speed interconnect over copper, which it has developed over the past decade to deliver a unique 100G interconnect high-performance SerDes solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Key Test Practices that Minimize Optical Network Downtime
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&partnerref=ws&eventid=1309683&sessionid=1&key=4B07756FF345AA573A5A7C9CC78A6869®Tag=&sourcepage=register
As advancements in 10, 40, and 100Gb fiber optic systems continue to accelerate in enterprise and data center networks, more technicians are working with fiber than ever before. This has introduced some unexpected challenges for both design engineers and field technicians. Not only are many of these technicians new to fiber, but the increased performance requirements leave little margin for error. Simple oversights, rookie mistakes and old test habits can lead to network downtime, costly outcomes and angry customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rattling Cisco’s cage? Facebook co-develops new, open-source data center hardware
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/rattling-cisco-s-cage-facebook-co-develops-new-open-source-data-center-hardware.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-15
Facebook has reportedly made great strides this week in helping to drive down the price of networking hardware, publishing plans for a device it’s co-developing that would send information between data centers using fiber-optic cables. Dubbed Voyager, the device features four ports, each capable of sending 200 gigabits of data per second over fiber.
Voyager’s open-source, “white box” design would allow customers to load their own networking software on the device, setting it apart from competing products from companies like Cisco, which come pre-bundled with proprietary management software.
“By unbundling the hardware and software in existing ‘black box’ systems, which include transponders, filters, line systems, and control and management software, we can advance each component independently and deliver even more bandwidth with greater cost efficiency,” the Facebook engineers behind the project wrote in a blog post.
An open approach for switching, routing, and transport
https://code.facebook.com/posts/1977308282496021/an-open-approach-for-switching-routing-and-transport/
Open Packet DWDM system
An open approach allows any vendor to contribute new hardware and software to the system. In the beginning, the open line system will include Yang software data models of each component in the system, and an open northbound software interface (NETCONF, Thrift, etc.) to the control plane software. This allows multiple applications to run on top of the open software layer, enabling software innovations in DWDM system control algorithms and network management systems.
We have extended the system in Figure 1 all the way to the transponder — the hardware component at the ends of the open line system (ends of the arrows in Figure 1). The transponder takes in client data signals (e.g., 100 GbE) from switches or routers, and packages these signals into the proper signaling format for metro or long-haul transmission.
The DWDM transponder hardware includes DSP ASICs and complex optoelectronic components, and thus accounts for much of the cost of the system. These components are a maturing technology, with recent advancements mainly in integrating functions to drive down the power, size, and cost. The software that runs the transponder is traditionally bundled with the hardware, and innovation happens only at the system level. By opening up the transponder, Voyager will enable greater innovation at the component level.
The first version of Voyager is shown in Figure 2. Voyager leverages data center technologies that we implemented in Wedge 100, Facebook’s top-of-rack switch. The Voyager transponder includes the same switch ASIC as Wedge 100 for aggregating the 100 GbE client signals (Broadcom Tomahawk). In addition, Voyager implemented the DSP ASIC and optics module (AC400) from Acacia Communications for the DWDM line side with their open development environment.
We collaborated with Celestica on the supply chain and with Snaproute on the software architecture for the end-to-end solution.
The network element software stack is based on hardware/platform management daemons. These daemons allow configuration, management, and monitoring of the underlying hardware layer. These daemons also provide services to higher-layer software that allows for the provisioning of the hardware. The middle layer of the software stack is composed of protocol and infrastructure daemons that provide core switching and routing functionality. Above the protocol/infrastructure layer resides the management layer, which allows for the configuration of various services and monitoring the health of the system via events, faults, and alarms. A multi-language SDK layer is provided for making further application development easy for the community.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What CenturyLink’s acquisition of Level 3 will mean to the colocation data center market
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/11/centurylink-level3-acquisition-colocation-data-center-market.html
On the day CenturyLink announced its plans to acquire level 3 Communications for approximately $25 billion plus debt, Liz Cruz—associate director of data centers, cloud and IT infrastructure with IHS Market—analyzed what the acquisition will mean and could mean for Century Link’s colocation data center business. “This acquisition would nearly double CenturyLink’s share of the colocation market from 6 percent of North American revenues to just over 100 percent,” she wrote on October 31. IHS Markit produced the graph that appears on this page showing colocation data center market share.
“CenturyLink currently operates nearly 60 data centers worldwide and has been actively looking for buyers of the business for nearly a year,”
Further, Cruz noted, the real question is how soon CenturyLink’s executives will “begin reevaluating the colocation business of Level 3?” She said it “made sense for CenturyLink to stop investing capital in its own colocation business—a segment that has seen relatively flat growth in the last year. However, Level 3’s colocation business has been performing better as of late, with second-quarter colocation and data center service revenue growing 12 percent over the previous quarter. Thus, deciding what to do with Level 3’s data centers with colocation space might be a tougher call.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Improve In-Home WiFi
http://btreport.net/articles/2016/11/how-to-improve-in-home-wifi.html?cmpid=enlmobile11152016
It is not hard to visually affirm that new homes have been increasing in size, but Pew Research Center confirms it: A statistic indicates that new homes are 60% larger than in 1973. At the same time, the number of client devices is also rising.
One access point (AP) for WiFi often is not enough to allow for reliable connection and ubiquitous speed to multiple devices throughout a large home.
“One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to provide whole-home WiFi coverage is by using WiFi itself to connect together the APs in the home,”
A mesh AP network is a self-healing, self-forming, self-optimizing network of mesh access points (MAPs). The ideas is that the MAPs communicate with each other to determine the optimal path for moving data. Both client-steering (making sure each WiFi client is connected to the best AP) and band steering (keeping clients on the optimal band, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz) are important. Otherwise throughput suffers and latency issues could occur.
“The (client) could be sitting next to the repeater, but the AP isn’t very far away either. The iPad will connect to the repeater, but (then it) sends its data twice over the air. It may be better to connect to the access point directly,” Bahr said.
CableLabs is working toward standardization of an AP Coordination protocol
“There is some work starting up now in the Open Source area where hopefully we will get contributions … that will help define this standard.”
If the Open Source route does not pan out, CableLabs will go to standards bodies. “We are not sure which horse is going to win,” Bahr said.
As for a timeline, Bahr said that open source projects are hard to predict, but the hope is that something will be seen mid-2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Long-distance Asian internet hookups are now faster then ever
We’re talking about the new Facebook-funded APG submarine cable. Not that
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/17/asia_pacific_gateway_submarine_cable/
If you fancy a long-distance Asian internet hookups now available, we have good news: the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) submarine cable has been completed and brings 100Gbps of connectivity to the region.
The cable lands in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam during the course of its 10,400km journey.
Speaking of faster the APG boasts 100Gbps optical transmission capabilities and capacity of “more than 54 Tbps”. Which is a lot of cat videos.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Landline telephone may be muted in the 2020s in Finland – the same number can be still be hold
Connection are reduced at the pace that the copper telephone network may be run down in the 2020s, DNA assesses the future of rural.
The number of traditional fixed-line subscriptions in decline from 10 to 15 percent per year, and the number of fixed-line subscriptions just growing.
- We do not have a final decision on the fixed networks would be driven down, but these views at the beginning of the 2020s there are so few users that have to think about what to do with the network
When the phone cable comes to an end of life, the new is no longer invested in.
According to the newspaper, it is possible to keep the old landline number, even if the fixed telephone network would need to be mobile.
Source: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/taloussanomat/oma-raha/art-2000002073730.html?ref=rss
Tomi Engdahl says:
Testing LTE-A Releases 11 and 12
http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4442438/Testing-LTE-A-Releases-11-and-12?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161117&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161117&elqTrackId=2702bc95746b44148e8b12a4d5e148e1&elq=5ee0d1dbcfe948f393976dddfa4a4820&elqaid=34827&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30405
LTE is under continuous development. Release 10 (LTE-Advanced) introduced carrier aggregation (CA) as the primary enhancement. Releases 11 and 12 add several new components to LTE. Some are enhancements to existing features (such as improvements to CA), while others are completely new concepts, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time-Sensitive Networks Find New Applications
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330816&
The well-respected independent test lab UNH-IOL has added three new consortia–automotive, industrial, and audio/video–for compliance and interoperability testing of time-sensitive Ethernet.
Time-sensitive networks (TSNs) have moved beyond the delivery of pro audio and video and into the industrial internet of things and connected cars. In response the a need for interoperability and compliance testing, the UNH-IOL (University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab) has announced the addition of three consortia for TSN testing. The three consortia are for automotive, industrial, and pro audio/video.
“IEEE 802.1 defines switching protocols,” said Noseworthy. “It consists of the set of standards that define Ethernet switches.” TSN is based on a series of standards (Table 1), mostly within IEEE 802.1.
Growing out of pro audio and video, 802.1AS-2011 (Generalized Precision Time Protocol) provides timing, synchronization, and bandwidth control. It assures timely Ethernet packet delivery.
Instead of trying to implement TSN in the PHY, TSN has been implemented at the switch level, between Ethernet ports or from Ethernet to another port such as 802.11 Wi-Fi. THe 802.1 standard specifies how different networks can connect to each other.
“The TSN standards development, continued Noseworthy, “started within IEEE 802.3 with what was originally called ‘residential Ethernet.’ Companies such as Gibson, Harmon, and Samsung asked if it was possible to get Ethernet to act like IEEE 1394 where it could guarantee bandwidth and deliver real-time audio and video.”
When asked where will TSN networks be used, Noseworthy replied “For audio and video, TSN can deliver sound from multiple sources (microphones) to multiple speakers, where each speaker produces a specific set of sounds. In automotive applications, TSN will play a significant role on vehicle control, especially in self-driving vehicles.” He noted that TSN is being deployed by BMW to provide a 360° camera view. It can stitch together time-sensitive frames from multiple cameras. For industrial applications, TSN can be used to control multiple actuators based in data acquired from multiple sensors, making sure that control data is delivered when it’s needed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Our 5G Future: In the Fast Lane with Numerical Simulation
The latest simulation tools seek to enable the design of next-generation wireless communication systems.
http://mwrf.com/software/our-5g-future-fast-lane-numerical-simulation?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20161117_MWRF-001_248&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=8539&utm_medium=email&elq2=490601c5eeb94b23ae42234b2650002b
5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) are among the hottest topics being discussed in the RF and microwave industry. Everyday activities and technological advancements depend more than ever on reliable and fast data communication. Designers are now faced with their biggest challenges, having been tasked with bringing real-time data usage and availability to the next level. This requires access to the best design tools, along with significant advances in signal processing, device-centered communications, and evolving technical standards.
From 4G LTE to 5G
It’s expected that 5G will need to utilize higher-frequency spectrums in the millimeter-wave range when deploying active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs), which enables multi-beam multiplexing and massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technologies (Fig. 1). Researchers working on the frontlines of forging this ultra-fast and high-bandwidth successor to 4G LTE are relying on modeling and simulation tools to optimize product development and test cycles.
Simulation supports designers throughout the design cycle by allowing them to virtually evaluate several design ideas and implement physical prototypes based on the most promising concepts.
In preparation for the 5G rollout, designers are working through a number of obstacles, including frequency choices, propagation, reliability, battery life, and interference. Each of these challenges is represented by a unique blend of physics that require a simulation specialist in that specific area—one who is equipped with the right tools to set up the underlying mathematical model properly. The symbiosis between designers and simulation specialists needs to be perfect in order to deliver the right product at the right time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emergency services 4G by 2020? And monkeys could fly out of my butt
Motorola gets paid if it’s on time, gets paid if it’s delayed
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/17/users_not_confident_in_emergency_services_network_timetable/
Users of the UK government’s plans to shove the emergency services on to a 4G network by March 2020 are sceptical about the programme’s timetable. Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, since a scheme of this scale has never before been tried anywhere else in the world.
The Emergency Services Network (ESN) – set to replace the Tetra-based Airwave radio system used by the police, fire and ambulance services – has been labelled “inherently risky” by the National Audit Office. The £2.9bn Airwave contract, which dates from 2000, will be switched off at the end of 2019.
Currently 70 per cent of the UK’s landmass is covered by British mobile operator EE’s 4G network. This needs to be increased to 97 per cent to match Airwave’s coverage.
The contract will involve the deployment of 130,000 new handheld devices as well as connectivity for 500 control rooms, 50,000 vehicles, 150 aircraft, and 300,000 users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Over-the-Air Power Measurement Solution
https://www.eeweb.com/news/over-the-air-power-measurement-solution/
The R&S NRPM OTA power measurement solution is the first solution for measuring transmit power over the air interface for 5G and wireless gigabit components. The solution enables users working in development and production to calibrate the output power of the antenna on a DUT and to test the DUT’s beamforming function.
Base stations, access points, wireless devices and radio modules use phased array antennas to transmit 5G and wireless gigabit radio signals. Beamforming is used to control the direction of radiation of the transmit antenna in order to maximize the power level at the receiver. The R&S NRPM OTA power measurement solution from Rohde & Schwarz now allows users to measure and calibrate the output power of a DUT as well as test its beamforming function ‒ all with a single, simple test setup. The solution works in the frequency range from 27.5 GHz to 75 GHz and therefore covers the 28 GHz band currently being discussed for 5G as well as the frequency range from 55 GHz to 66 GHz for WLAN in line with IEEE 802.11ad and frequencies above 66 GHz in line with IEEE 802.11ay.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In 2022 the world is 29 billion network-connected smart devices, of which 18 billion is the so-called IoT devices, such estimates in a recent Ericsson Mobility Report. Smartphone, tablet and the computer will lose its position as the most common devices were already connected to two years.
In 2018, issues linked to the Internet of machines and equipment, such as intelligent cars, smart meters, and consumer electronics, is more than smart phones. IoT devices are connected to the network, inter alia, trucks, remotely readable meters, security systems, smart TVs, wearable technology and other connected consumer electronics devices.
IoT and 5G’s development are closely linked, as part of IoT applications require more delays and facilitate faster 5G connections. In 2022 the world will be about half a billion 5G subscriptions, of which a quarter is in the United States, Ericsson predicts.
- IoT and cloud services using Smart technology can be brought within the reach of more and more. Such technology brings market, among other things, Telia, whose service allows ordinary cars can be connected to the Internet and catching intelligent services. It allows third party service providers to provide services to car owners, and accordingly have access to a car owner’s data permitting, Sirkka continue.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5425:ericsson-alypuhelimen-valta-asema-murtuu&catid=13&Itemid=101
More: https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2016/ericsson-mobility-report-november-2016.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charter Rolls Out 30 Mbps Low-Income Internet
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/charter-rolls-out-low-income-internet.html?cmpid=enlmobile11172016&eid=289644432&bid=1592353
Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) has launched a low-income Internet program, dubbed Spectrum Internet Assist, intended for seniors and families of students across its national footprint. The service will feature 30 Mbps downstream and 4 Mbps upstream for $14.99 per month, plus taxes and fees. Activation fees are waived, and the rate will not be increased during the life of the program. Charter WiFi is available for an additional $5 a month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Counting the cost: Efficiently transitioning from HFC to FTTH
http://www.btreport.net/webcasts/2016/09/efficiently-transitioning-from-hfc-to-ftth.html?cmpid=enlmobile11172016&eid=289644432&bid=1592353
HFC networks are uniquely positioned to provide compelling and competitive services, and are also uniquely positioned to transition to symmetrical FTTH as commercial requirements demand.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oracle acquires DNS provider Dyn, subject of a massive DDoS attack in October
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/21/oracle-acquires-dns-provider-dyn-subject-of-a-massive-ddos-attack-in-october/
A timely, if a little surprising, piece of M&A this morning from Oracle: the enterprise services company announced that it has acquired Dyn, the popular DNS provider that was the subject of a massive distributed denial of service attack in October that crippled some of the world’s biggest and most popular websites.
Oracle plans to add Dyn’s DNS solution to its bigger cloud computing platform, which already sells/provides a variety of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products and competes against companies like Amazon’s AWS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple unplugs its home LAN biz, allegedly
AirPort taken behind shed, shot heard
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/22/apple_reportedly_exiting_home_lan_biz/
Apple has pencilled in the end-of-life date for its 17-year-old AirPort product line.
The news comes courtesy of Bloomberg, which probably got it right even if it does describe routers as “access points that connect laptops, iPhones and other devices to the web without a cable.”
The report notes that wireless networking isn’t a big enough market to get its own line item in Apple’s accounts, and the range hasn’t had a refresh since 802.11ac versions landed in 2013.
The newswire reckons the AirPort engineers have been progressively shifted to other projects, including Apple TV, and notes that the US$99 to $299 price tags on AirPort mean they’re not the kind of high-margin units Cupertino loves.
An exit would also be a recognition that Wi-Fi kit has changed a lot since 1999, when AirPort was launched. Apple reshaped the Wi-Fi market – and consumer expectations – by making WiFi routers simple.
Apple Said to Abandon Development of Wireless Routers
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-21/apple-said-to-abandon-development-of-wireless-routers-ivs0ssec
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world’s largest supplier of base station, at least currently ranked Huawei has progressed in its own 5G netwotk tests. with the Australian operator Optus-Huawei reached in Sydney for 35 gigabit per second data links on 73 GHz millimeter waves with Polar Code modulation.
Polar Code is one of the candidate encoding mechanism for future 5G networks. The earnings include a good bit of efficiency and the low number of bit errors, but on the other hand technique to increase slightly the link latency.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5440&via=n&datum=2016-11-21_16:41:55&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global Capacity to mount SD-WAN pilot in Q4, boosts 11 PoPs with 100 GigE capabilities
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/global-capacity-to-mount-sd-wan-pilot-in-q4-boosts-11-pops-with-100-gige-capabilities.html
“Global Capacity is preparing to launch its own managed SD-WAN offering with plans to begin a pilot with its customers in the fourth quarter. Already providing a number of access platforms, including broadband, fiber, and Ethernet over copper to support other SD-WAN partners, Global Capacity says it has the right pieces in place to support its own service.”
While Stanhope could not say who Global Capacity’s partners are, the service provider has been in active discussions with other SD-WAN providers and software vendors. “We had a lot of chatter and a lot of looks from other providers as well as partners on the SD-WAN software side because while it does some amazing things on providing visibility, you still need an underlying network,” she added.
Global Capacity will install Ciena’s 8700 to connect 11 Points of Presence (PoPs) located in San Jose, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Ashburn and New York City. The multi-terabit programmable Ethernet-over-DWDM packet switch aggregates and switches large quantities of packet traffic.
Global data center and SDN market nearly doubled last year: Report
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/05/global-data-center-and-sdn-market-nearly-doubled-last-year-report.html
These figures include in-use units for SDN Ethernet switches, SDN controllers, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) appliances and control and management.
“New SDN use cases continue to emerge, and 2015 was no exception with the establishment of the SD-WAN market,” said Cliff Grossner, senior research director for data center cloud and SDN at IHS. “While still a small market, many startups, traditional WAN optimization appliance vendors and traditional network vendors have jumped in, and we forecast SD-WAN revenue to hit $1.3 billion by 2020.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fiber-optic video scope configured for Windows operating systems
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/11/rms1-truvue-fiber-optic-video-scope.html
The RMS-1 TruVue Fiber Optic Video Scope is now configured for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, its inventor Edward J. Forrest recently announced. RMS-1 is direct digital photography and records in still and motion imagery.
“The RMS-1 TruVue Fiber Optic Video Scope is the only device that can ‘see’ beyond the customary and limited field-of-view as noted in IEC-61300-3-35,” Forrest explained. “This is an important advance as debris present in many sectors of the fiber-optic connector, heretofore not possible to be seen, can contribute to reflectance and insertion loss. The instrument can be used for field service, production lines, and a very essential asset for training applications.”
“In addition to the customary horizontal endface, RMS-1 can easily see the vertical ferrule as well as soil points of the fiber-optic connection,” Forrest said. “RMS-1 is thought to be the only device on the market able to capture direct digital images of fiber-optic connector surfaces beyond the limited areas commonly understood as Zone 1-2-3.” Forrest characterizes a connector in three-dimensional terms in Zones: 1-2-3-4-5.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CenturyLink, Infinera blast 2.5 Tb/s of fiber-optic DWDM capacity via 100GE provisioning at SC16
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/centurylink-infinera-blast-2-5-tb-s-of-fiber-optic-dwdm-capacity-via-100ge-provisioning-at-sc16.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-21
Intelligent transport networks specialist Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) and CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) announced that the companies have teamed to deliver 2.5 terabits per second (Tb/s) of super-channel transmission capacity to support SCinet, the research test bed at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis ( SC16), being held this week, November 13-18, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 2.5 Tb/s of line-side capacity will connect the Salt Lake City Convention Center to CenturyLink’s global fiber-optic network, utilizing the Infinera DTN-X series of networking chassis. The multi-terabit deployment demonstrates CenturyLink’s rapid provisioning of 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) services from the conference to CenturyLink’s point of presence in Salt Lake City and across its national backbone. The DTN-X family is a key part of the Infinera Intelligent Transport Network, and includes the chassis-based XTC Series and the XT Series platforms. The XTC Series includes the XTC-10, XTC-4, XTC-2 and XTC-2E platforms addressing subsea, long-haul and metro networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ericsson: Mobile Video to Grow 50% a Year
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/ericsson-mobile-video-to-grow-50-a-year.html?cmpid=videotechnology11212016&eid=289644432&bid=1594061
According to Ericsson’s (NASDAQ:ERIC) Mobility Report, mobile data traffic continues to grow, driven both by increased smartphone subscriptions and a continued increase in average data volume per subscription, fueled primarily by more viewing of video content. In Q3 2016, data traffic grew around 10% quarter-on-quarter and 50% year-on-year.
Ericsson forecasts mobile video traffic to grow by around 50% annually through 2022, to account for nearly 75% of all mobile data traffic. Social networking is the second biggest data traffic type after video, forecast to grow by 39% annually over the coming six years.