Here are some of my collection of newest trends and predictions for year 2018. I have not invented those ideas what will happen next year completely myself. I have gone through many articles that have given predictions for year 2018. Then I have picked and mixed here the best part from those articles (sources listed on the end of posting) with some of my own additions to make this posting.This article contains very many quotations from those source articles.
Big Data, mobility and the Internet of Things (IoT) are generating an enormous amount of data, and data center operators must find ways to support higher and higher speeds. Recent data center trends predict bandwidth requirements will continue growing 25 percent to 35 percent per year. Many older data centers were designed to support 1-gigabit or 10-gigabit pathways between servers, routers and switches. Today’s Ethernet roadmap extends from 25- and 40-gigabit up through 100-gigabit, and 400-gigabit and even 1-terabit Ethernet loom within a few years. The biggest sales are forecasted for 25G and 100G ports for next few years. Ethernet switch market has now 100 Gbit/s products in the volumes at the moment, and both 200G and 400G Ethernet versions will be taken to use in 2018.
Broadcom dominates the Ethernet switch chip market today with a 73 to 94 percent share, depending on how market watchers slice the sector valued at nearly a billion dollars. Its closest rival, Cisco Systems, takes most of the rest with systems using its own ASICs. Juniper, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Huawei also make Ethernet switch ASICs for their systems. With seven merchant chips in the pipeline and four in-house ASICs in the works, we will see a record number of unique platforms ship in 2018. Wheeler of the Linley Group expects the competition will drive Ethernet switch costs from about $60/port today to about $36/port by 2020.
Data center giants “are driving their own code and programmable capabilities as close to the server as possible.” The dozen largest data center operators — including the likes of Facebook and Google — build their own switch systems or specify systems built by ODMs. They can drive sales of millions of chips a year but demand maximum bandwidth at minimum cost and power consumption. The Tomahawk-3 is geared for the next-generation of their top-of-rack and aggregation switches, delivering up to 128 100GE or 32 400GE ports, the first merchant chip to support 400GE rates.
China will start making more optical components: Several Western component and subsystems vendors have cited reduced demand from Chinese systems houses such as Huawei and ZTE for revenue declines in 2017. One reason for the slowdown is the fact that these systems houses have begun looking for more local optical technology sources. In addition to doing more development work in-house (particularly in the case of Huawei), the two Chinese systems vendors have begun to work more closely with Chinese companies such as Accelink, Hisense, and HiSilicon as well as Japanese vendors. This can mean that Western firms (particularly in the U.S.) may not see their Chinese orders return to previous levels.
Higher power power over Ethernet: 802.3bt – IEEE Draft Standard for Ethernet Amendment: Physical Layer and Management Parameters for DTE Power via MDI over 4-Pair amendment to IEEE Std 802.3-2015 increases the maximum PD power available by utilizing all four pairs in the specified structured wiring plant. This represents a substantial increase to the capabilities of Ethernet with standardized power – allow delivery of up to 90 watts of power via existing Ethernet cabling. The Ethernet Alliance has announced details of its next plugfest: Dedicated to pre-standard testing of Power over Ethernet (PoE) technologies against Draft 3.2 of the IEEE P802.3bt standard, the event will be held in February 2018. The specification’s ratification is expected in September of 2018.
802.11ax hasn’t been signed off yet, but promises to send WiFi towards 10 Gb/s thanks to its use of both multi-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MU-MIMO) and the new Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA). 802.11ax is good at combining lots of different links so that users get more connections, more often, and end up with more bandwidth. Marvell claims it’ll have the first chipsets for new 10G WiFi ready for products in H2 2018. Marvell said the chipsets will ship some time in early 2018 and will appear in products in the second half of the year. Widespread 802.11ax adoption in devices probably won’t happen until 2019.
5G something in it for everyone. 5G is big. 5G New Radio (NR) wireless technology will ultimately impact everyone in the electronics and telecommunications industries. Most estimates say 2020 is when we will ultimately see some real 5G deployments on a scale. In the meantime, companies are firming up their plans for whatever 5G products and services they will offer. Though test and measurement solutions will be key in the commercialization cycle. 5G is set to disrupt test processes. If 5G takes off, the technology will propel the development of new chips in both the infrastructure and the handset. Data centers require specialty semiconductors from power management to high-speed optical fiber front-ends. 5G systems will drive more complexity in RF front-ends .
Networks will become more and more virtual, especially on 5G. 5G networks will build on LTE network architecture with the introduction of cloud RANs (C-RANs) and virtualized RANs. Network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) tools and architectures could enable operators to reduce network costs and simplify deployment. For more details read System architecture milestone of 5G Phase 1 is achieved article.
Automotive Ethernet: Automotive Ethernet will replace the Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) bus found on many vehicles today and also compete with systems like Maxim’s Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL). The standards include IEEE 802.3bw 100BASE-T1 and IEEE P802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 that adopt the 100-Mb/s and 1-Gb/s Ethernet protocols to run over over a single twisted pair up to 15 meters. Chips, PHYs and switches are now readily available for automotive Ethernet. Automotive switches will support time-sensitive networking (TSN) features like audio video bridging (AVB) ingress policy, rate limiting andalso features 802.1Qav/Qbv queue-shaping support. We will need a Security Blanket for Automotive Ethernet.
Car-to-car communication: The industry and government have defined several versions of vehicular communications. These are vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X). V2V is the direct communications between vehicles within range of one another. V2V link-up is automatic and cars exchange status information messages Basic Safety Message (BSM) 10 times per second (contains data such as GPS location, speed, direction, brake status, and related conditions). There are competing technologies to make this all work. IEEE802.11p ahead of LTE-V2V for safety critical applications. 5G will offer increased capacity and decreased latency for some critical applications such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving vehicles. The big question is whether 5G will disrupt the landscape or fall short of its promises.
TSN (time sensitive networking) will be talked on many application. Success in the IIoT requires that information- and operational-technology networks work in tandem—time-sensitive networking can make it happen. A converged industrial network will address several challenges that currently exist in today’s disparate network architecture, and it is believed that needed convergence is provided by time-sensitive networking (TSN). TSN is a set of IEEE 802 sub-standards that, when implemented, enable deterministic communication over Ethernet networks while keeping the benefits of communication in best effort manner, on that same network. TSN introduces different traffic classes that share the same link. Proper implementation of TSN requires a solution that can provide a low latency and deterministic response at TSN end points and TSN bridges – it is usually implemented with combining a processor and a FPGA or using advanced Ethernet switch chip.
Gartner analyst says on-premises data centers will soon be ‘useless’: Govekar said that as soon as 2019, at least a third of the largest software vendors will have transitioned their products from cloud-first to cloud-only. For this reason Gartner analyst predicts doom for on-premises data centers. If this happens , there will be a lot of work for network operators and cloud service companies to be able to build the infrastructure that can handle all this without problems. I expect that not all on-premises data centers are doomed. There are applications where moving everything to central could does not make sense – for example many IoT applications are moving some of the processing from cloud to edge devices for various reasons (lower latency, reduce needed bandwidth, work also when communications does not work etc..). There is also place for some on-premises data centers on some application (may them be depending on need anything from embedded server to room full of equipment racks). When designing for the IoT, security needs to be addressed from the Cloud down to each and every edge device. Protecting data is both a hardware and a software requirement, as more data is being stored and analyzed in edge devices and gateways.
Network neutrality talks will continue in 2018. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on December 14, 2017 overturned the Title II-based Open Internet Order the previous Democratic-controlled FCC regime put in place in 2015. So what happens next? In the immediate term, nothing. The Restoring Internet Freedom Order won’t go into effect until sometime in the first half of 2018.
IPv6 usage seems to be finally accelerating in 2018. IPv6 has been a “future” since 1998, and an important future since 2007. IPv6 deployments have been increasing and chances are you have already used IPv6 – but haven’t realized it yet. IPv6 deployment is increasing around the world, with over 9 million domain names and 23% of all networks advertising IPv6 connectivity. Network admins will have many concerns about migrating to IPv6 in 2018. China plans to put the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)-based network into large-scale use, to boost the development of the Internet industry. China aims to have 200 million active users of IPv6 by the end of 2018. IPv6 use is increasing, but that does not mean that IPv4 is no way dying. It seems that both of those technologies will co-exist in Internet for a long time.
Sources:
Chinese systems houses engaging with alternative component, subsystem sources: LightCounting
System architecture milestone of 5G Phase 1 is achieved
Five technology trends for 2018
NI Trend Watch 2018 explores trends driving the future faster
ADAS Needs V2X to Meet ITS Goals
Taking Automotive Ethernet for a Test Drive
A Security Blanket for Automotive Ethernet
TSN: Converging Networks for a Better Industrial IoT
Gartner analyst says on-premises data centers will soon be ‘useless’
Gartner analyst predicts doom for on-premises data centers
M2M within the IoT – Pushing Security from the Cloud Down to Every Last Endpoint
Net Neutrality Overturned: Now What?
B’com Shifts Switch to 12.8 Tbits/s
Planning starts now for high-speed data center migration
China to speed up IPv6-based Internet development
Top 5 Concerns of Network Admins About Migrating to IPv6 in 2018
1,081 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/kolumni/8841-taman-takia-huaweita-pelataan
The 6 reasons why Huawei gives the US and its allies security nightmares
The biggest fear is that China could exploit the telecom giant’s gear to wreak havoc in a crisis.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612556/the-6-reasons-why-huawei-gives-the-us-and-its-allies-security-nightmares/
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8838-aaniaaltoja-voidaan-jaahdyttaa-piilla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vital tips about wires, cabling
https://www.csemag.com/articles/vital-tips-about-wires-cabling/
Ethernet cable not only can be used to transmit data and communication, but also power for low-power-usage devices. This article discusses design considerations and relevant codes and standards.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is G.652 Single Mode Fiber Your Right Choice?
https://community.fs.com/blog/what-kind-of-single-mode-fiber-should-you-choose.html
As we all know, multimode fiber is usually divided into OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4. Then how about single mode fiber (SMF)? In fact, the types of single mode fiber seem much more complex than multimode fiber. There are two primary sources for the specifications of single mode optical fiber. One is the ITU-T G.65x series, and the other is IEC 60793-2-50 (published as BS EN 60793-2-50)
There are 19 different single mode optical fiber specifications defined by the ITU-T, among which G.652 fiber is the most commonly used.
G.652 fiber is by far the most widely installed single mode fiber optic cable globally. So this fiber category is also known as the standard SMF.
G.652 fiber is designed to have a zero-dispersion wavelength near 1310 nm, therefore it is optimized for operation in the 1310nm band and can also operate at 1550 nm.
G.652 core size of 8-10 micrometer
What’s the Difference Between Legacy G.652 and G.652.D?
G.652.D fiber is the most current subcategory of G.652 fiber. What’s the difference between legacy G.652 fiber and G.652.D fiber? Compared with G.652.A fiber and G.652.B fiber, G.652.D fiber eliminates the water peak for full spectrum operation.
The G.652.D fiber has been developed to specifically reduce the water peak at the 1383nm wavelength range. So G.652.D fiber optic cable can be used in the wavelength regions 1310 nm and 1550 nm, and supporting Coarse WDM (CWDM) transmission.
Different single mode optical fibers defined by ITU-T include G.652, G.653, G.654, G.655, G.656 and G.657. Each single mode fiber type has its own area of application
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wi-Fi Will Soon Provide Position Accuracy of One Meter
https://iconsofinfrastructure.com/wi-fi-will-soon-provide-position-accuracy-of-one-meter/
IEEE 802.11mc (better known as Wi-Fi round-trip time, or RTT), which can increase accuracy to 1m while providing vertical (Z-axis) location information that has been long awaiting a solution. It is making its debut later this year in the Android P operating system and probably in an update to iOS 11 as well.
Wi-Fi RTT operates according to the Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) protocol within the IEEE 802.11-2016 standard that uses a variety of techniques to pinpoint the location of someone’s smartphone or tablet. Although 802.11mc has been in the works for years, it was formally announced early in 2017 by the Wi-Fi Alliance®, who calls the capability a “Wi-Fi Certified Location,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
AIs Strive to Juggle Signals and Thwart Jammers in DARPA’s Spectrum Challenge
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/darpas-spectrum-collaboration-challenge-subjects-ais-to-a-gauntlet-of-broadcasting-scenarios-and-they-succeed
It’s not clear which is more challenging: constructing AIs that can collaboratively learn to manage radio spectrum more effectively than humans can, or presenting the results in a way that isn’t snooze-inducing. Yet both were accomplished during Phase 2 of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2), held on 12 December at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Klint Finley / Wired:
A year after FCC’s vote to repeal net neutrality rules, there have been no big changes in how ISPs and mobile carriers provide their services — IT’S BEEN ONE year since the Federal Communications Commission voted to gut its net neutrality rules. The good news is that the internet isn’t drastically different than it was before.
A Year Without Net Neutrality: No Big Changes (Yet)
https://www.wired.com/story/year-without-net-neutrality-no-big-changes-yet/
It’s been one year since the Federal Communications Commission voted to gut its net neutrality rules. The good news is that the internet isn’t drastically different than it was before. But that’s also the bad news: The net wasn’t always so neutral to begin with.
As we predicted last year, broadband providers didn’t make any drastic new moves to block or cripple the delivery of content after the FCC’s order revoking its Obama-era net neutrality protections took effect in June. That makes perfect sense given the uncertain future of net neutrality protections.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
With EU governments increasingly concerned about Huawei, telecoms including UK’s BT, France’s Orange, and Deutsche Telekom are reconsidering the use of its gear
Huawei Hemorrhages Allies in Europe on Growing Security Concerns
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-15/huawei-hemorrhages-allies-in-europe-on-growing-security-concerns
BT and Deutsche Telekom among companies distancing themselves
Europe is the equipment maker’s biggest market outside China
The U.S. has been pushing governments for months to block Huawei Technologies Co. from telecom networks. That strategy is now taking hold in Europe, where the Chinese technology giant is losing allies by the day.
European officials and companies, initially slow to act on the U.S. warnings, this week increasingly distanced themselves publicly from the equipment supplier. The concern is that Beijing could use Huawei’s gear for spying — something the company has always denied. While there have been no outright bans, the outlook is dimming for Huawei in its biggest market outside China.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘No Evidence’ of Huawei Spying, Says German IT Watchdog
https://www.securityweek.com/no-evidence-huawei-spying-says-german-it-watchdog
Germany’s IT watchdog has expressed scepticism about calls for a boycott of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying it has seen no evidence the firm could use its equipment to spy for Beijing, news weekly Spiegel reported Friday.
“For such serious decisions like a ban, you need proof,” the head of Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Arne Schoenbohm, told Spiegel, adding that his agency had no such evidence.
Huawei has faced increasing scrutiny over its alleged links to Chinese intelligence services, prompting countries like the United States, Australia and Japan to block it from building their next-generation, super-fast 5G internet networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘No evidence’ of Huawei spying, says German IT watchdog
https://m.phys.org/news/2018-12-evidence-huawei-spying-german-watchdog.html
Huawei has faced increasing scrutiny over its alleged links to Chinese intelligence services, prompting countries like the United States, Australia and Japan to block it from building their next-generation, super-fast 5G internet networks
Germany’s IT watchdog has expressed scepticism about calls for a boycott of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying it has seen no evidence the firm could use its equipment to spy for Beijing, news weekly Spiegel reported Friday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SpaceX said to be raising $500m to help fund internet service
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/18/spacex-said-to-be-raising-500m-to-help-fund-internet-service/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fiber Optic Patch Panels, Closures & Pedestals: W-6D-172 Chapter 1 of 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0YJtITHrQw
The chapter introduces the many products designed for cable and fiber management. From indoor panels to specialty products for fiber to the home, proper cable management is essential.
Fiber 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_kA8EpCUQo
Short tutorial detailing the basics of optical fiber, its composition and its capabilities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Ethernet specification with TSN
The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) announced the completion of the specification for CC-Link IE TSN to meet future market demands
to integrate operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT).
https://www.controleng.com/articles/group-announces-open-industrial-ethernet-solution/
The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) announced the completion of the specification for CC-Link IE TSN. CC-Link IE TSN is designed to meet future market demands and has added time-sensitive networking (TSN) technology to integrate operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT). Also, it enables flexible implementation for various types of equipment. It also utilizes IP and control communication technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
University, industry leaders collaborate to power network for research and education
https://www.controleng.com/articles/university-industry-leaders-collaborate-to-power-network-for-research-and-education/
Indiana University network engineers are collaborating with Ciena, Internet2, and ESnet to power the Monon400 network and will stretch from Chicago to Dallas.
Indiana University network engineers are collaborating with Ciena, Internet2, and ESnet to power the fastest network ever built for research and education.
The Monon400 operates over 400G channels and can transfer a 4K resolution movie in about one second. The network can be upgraded to a maximum capacity of 25.6 terabits-per-second, which is roughly 32 times its current speed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charter Will Pay Customers Up to $150 Each in Record $174 Million Fraud Settlement
https://gizmodo.com/charter-will-pay-customers-up-to-150-each-in-record-1-1831173492
As a part of the settlement, the telecommunications company will have to refund $62.5 million to more than 700,000 customers because it allegedly promised speedier and more reliable internet service than it actually provided to those customers. This will be the largest payout an internet service provider has made to customers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
Sprint to pay $300M in a settlement with New York AG for failing to collect $100M+ in state and local taxes between 2005 and 2014 on some of its wireless plans — Carrier didn’t collect proper taxes on some wireless plans for nearly a decade, New York attorney general says
Sprint to Pay $330 Million to Settle N.Y. Tax Probe
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sprint-to-pay-330-million-to-settle-n-y-tax-probe-11545414196
Carrier didn’t collect proper taxes on some wireless plans for nearly a decade, New York attorney general says
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Libre Router Project Will Allow Communities to Build Their Own Mesh Networks
https://blog.hackster.io/the-libre-router-project-will-allow-communities-to-build-their-own-mesh-networks-b03dad75d28f
To help bring mesh networks to those in rural and disadvantaged areas around the globe, hackers from several different countries have formed a community initiative that is developing an open source hardware and software solution to help those in need. The Libre Router Project builds on existing satellite or a wired internet connection within a community and uses RF routers to expand the connection into areas where it’s needed, thus creating a mesh network anyone can use despite their location
Those mesh networks will feature the Project’s LibreRouter (currently in Prototype 2 form), which is designed to be easily repaired using widely available hardware and is based on the AR9558 SoC and Atheros AR8327 Gigabit Switch. It also packs an on-chip 2.4Ghz 802.11bgn MIMO 3×3 Atheros radio, a pair of mPCIe slots to connect Wi-Fi radios or GSM cards, and a PIC10F200 hardware watchdog to handle failed flashes or hardware failures.
https://librerouter.org/article/the-librerouter-is-almost-out-who-wants-one/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The LibreRouter project aims to make mesh networks simple and affordable
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/19/the-librerouter-project-aims-to-make-mesh-networks-simple-and-affordable/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
In the city, we’re constantly saturated with the radio waves from 10 or 20 different routers, cell towers and other wireless infrastructure. But in rural communities there might only be one internet connection for a whole village. LibreRouter is a hardware and software project that looks to let those communities build their own modern, robust mesh networks to make the most of their limited connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don’t Let DNS Flag Day Become Your DNS Doomsday
https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-awareness/dns-flag-day-dns-doomsday/
News Flash: Your DNS might be broken, and you don’t even know it. But wait? How could I not know my DNS is broken? Well, the answer lies in the history of the DNS standards and what has become the cobbling together of features within authoritative and recursive DNS server software. It all started going south about 19 years ago with the introduction of Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS(0)). The standards for EDNS(0) were solidified in 2013 in RFC 6891 but have been evolving ever since.
Enter the mighty power of a conglomerate of recursive DNS resolver providers – you know, the big guys like Google, Cloudflare, NLNET Labs (Unbound), ISC (BIND), Facebook, Quad9, PowerDNS, Cisco and others. These providers of the most widely used recursive DNS resolvers have announced that they will no longer be supporting these “EDNS(0) error workarounds” and will be cleaning up their code in such a way that domains using authoritative name servers that DO NOT correctly respond to DNS queries with EDNS(0) data will not be resolved. The date that has been set for this change is February 1st, 2019.
The result of this “line in the sand” means that all domains hosted on these poorly coded DNS servers will fail to resolve correctly across all the recursive resolvers built by and run by the consortium. So your SPF, DKIM, DMARC, most TXT and PTR records will fail. This will be a very bad day for anyone who doesn’t take time to address this issue BEFORE February 1st, 2019.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco to acquire silicon photonics chip maker Luxtera for $660 million
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/18/cisco-to-acquire-silicon-photonics-chip-maker-luxtera-for-660-million/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
As networks get put under increasing pressure from ever-growing amounts of data, network equipment manufacturers are facing huge challenges to increase data transmission speeds over farther distances. As a premier networking equipment company, Cisco wants to be prepared to meet that demand. Today, it opened up its checkbook and announced its intent to acquire Luxtera for $660 million.
Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco’s M&A and venture investment team, sees a company that can help modernize Cisco’s networking equipment
While Cisco has been acquiring its share of high-profile software properties in recent years, including AppDyanmics for $3.7 billion in 2017 and Jasper Technologies for $1.4 billion in 2016, it also acquired Israeli chip designer Leaba Semiconductor for $320 million in 2016 for its advanced chip making capability.
“The combination of Cisco’s and Luxtera’s capabilities in 100GbE/400GbE optics, silicon and process technology will enable customers to build future-proof networks optimized for performance, reliability and cost,” Salvagno wrote.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here Are the Odds That One of SpaceX’s Internet Satellites Will Hit Someone
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/the-odds-that-one-of-spacexs-internet-satellites-will-hit-someone
The chance that SpaceX’s planned Starlink satellite constellation will cause an injury or death is 45 percent every six years, according to an IEEE Spectrum analysis of figures submitted by the company to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
Elon Musk hopes the nearly 12,000 satellites in the constellation will eventually carry half of all Internet traffic. The satellites will use laser and radio links to provide fast, cheap Internet access to people all over the world—and the associated service fees could help Musk fund his dream of colonizing Mars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ahmedabad Doctor Claims World’s First Telerobotic Heart Surgery on Patient 32 KM Away
https://beebom.com/ahmedabad-doctor-telerobotic-heart-surgery/
Dr Tejas Patel, an internationally renowned cardiologist, claims to have performed the world’s first cardiovascular stent surgery in a female patient, operating from a remote area, which would make history in cardiovascular surgery in the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei’s kit removed from emergency services 4G network
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46672550
BT has confirmed that equipment made by Huawei is being removed from the heart of a communication system being developed for the UK’s police forces and other emergency services.
It follows a statement from BT earlier this month that it was swapping out the Chinese firm’s kit from the “core” of its 3G and 4G mobile networks.
The 4G-based Emergency Services Network should be less costly to run than the existing system used by police
Tomi Engdahl says:
German cybersecurity chief: Anyone have any evidence of Huawei naughtiness?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/18/german_cybersecurity_chief_show_me_the_huawei_evidence/
We won’t be having a word with local firms until then
Germany’s top cybersecurity official has said he hasn’t seen any evidence for the espionage allegations against Huawei.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stop Sending Regular Text Messages
https://gizmodo.com/stop-sending-regular-text-messages-1831258324
Thanks to a Federal Communications Commission vote last week, wireless carriers now have more control over your text messages. If that sounds ominous, that’s because it is—so much so that now’s the perfect time to ditch regular ol’ text messaging altogether.
Here’s the deal: The FCC’s decision means wireless carriers now have a greater ability to block text messages. The FCC is claiming a victory for consumers who have been bombarded with spam texts, but critics of the decision say it’s a threat to free speech. And given that there are already better alternatives to basic text messaging, like Signal, there’s little reason to not just take it all the way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The nation-state of the internet
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/08/the-nation-state-of-the-internet/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
From digital nomads to blockchain, what will it take for an internet nation-state to form?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raymond Zhong / New York Times:
As Huawei comes under government scrutiny worldwide, a look at the company’s aggressive culture that encouraged employees to bend the rules, up to a point — SHENZHEN, China — Earthquakes, terrorist attacks and low oxygen levels on Mount Everest could not hold them back.
Huawei’s ‘Wolf Culture’ Helped It Grow, and Got It Into Trouble
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/huawei-workers-iran-sanctions.html
As the Chinese tech giant Huawei expanded around the globe, supplying equipment to bring mobile phone and data service to the planet’s farthest reaches, its employees were urged on by a culture that celebrated daring feats in pursuit of new business.
They worked grueling hours. They were encouraged to bend certain company rules, as long as doing so enriched the company and not employees personally
Employees at the company and people who have studied it have a name for its hard-charging corporate spirit: “wolf culture.”
Now, the company’s aggressive ways have been cast in a new light. The United States has accused Meng Wanzhou, a top Huawei executive and daughter of its founder, of committing bank fraud to help the company’s business in Iran.
It is not clear precisely how Huawei’s culture shaped its dealings in Iran.
Huawei workers have been accused of bribing government officials to win business in Africa, copying an American competitor’s source code and even stealing the fingertip of a robot in a T-Mobile lab in Bellevue, Wash. In 2015
Mr. Ren said in 2015 that Huawei had toughened its safeguards against employee misconduct. But the following year, in a speech that was emailed to employees, he acknowledged that many workers did not pay attention to internal rules and controls
Mr. Ren said that it was important to enforce internal standards, but that this should not become a hindrance.
“If it blocks the business from producing grain, then we all starve to death,” he said, according to a transcript of his comments on a Huawei website.
Ms. Meng’s arrest this month has darkened China’s relations with the United States
Security concerns about Huawei and other Chinese equipment providers are mounting among traditional allies of the United States.
At the annual meeting of spy chiefs of the so-called Five Eyes countries, Huawei was among the topics discussed by senior intelligence officers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States
The pressure on the business is building. In Germany last week, Deutsche Telekom said it was taking seriously the “global discussion about the security of network elements from Chinese manufacturers.” On Monday, the Czech intelligence agency warned against the country working with Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese technology company.
Abrar Al-Heeti / CNET:
Despite challenges in penetrating the US market, Huawei says it has shipped over 200M smartphones in 2018 globally, up from last year’s 153M units
Huawei exceeds 200 million smartphone shipments, setting company record
https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-exceeds-200-million-smartphone-shipments-setting-company-record/
It credits the success of its P20 and Honor 10 phones, among others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s Huawei Faces New Setbacks in Europe’s Telecom Market
https://www.securityweek.com/chinas-huawei-faces-new-setbacks-europes-telecom-market
The U.S. dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company’s biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns.
Some European governments and telecom companies are following the U.S.’s lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Russia to spend $2.000.000.000 yearly on disconnection from global Internet
https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/russia-to-spend-2-000-000-000-yearly-for-disconnection-from-global-internet/
The money will be spent on research, creation of traffic exchange points, exercises and expansion of the companies controlled by Roskomnadzor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei Expects 21% Revenue Rise Despite ‘Unfair’ Treatment
https://www.securityweek.com/huawei-expects-21-revenue-rise-despite-unfair-treatment
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei expects to see a 21 percent rise in revenue for 2018, its chairman said Thursday despite a year of “unfair treatment” which saw its products banned in several countries over security concerns.
Huawei would report sales revenue of $108.5 billion, up 21 percent year-on-year, rotating chairman Guo Ping said in a New Year message to staff.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Facebook Keeps Messenger From Crashing on New Year’s Eve
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/how-facebooks-software-engineers-prepare-messenger-for-new-years-eve
On New Year’s Eve, millions of people will use Facebook’s Messenger app to wish friends and family a “Happy New Year!” If everything goes smoothly, those messages will reach recipients in fewer than 100 milliseconds, and life will go on. But if the service stalls or fails, a small team of software engineers based in the company’s New York City office will have to answer for it.
Messenger’s 1.3 billion monthly active users send more messages on New Year’s Eve than on any other day of the year. Many hit “send” (represented as a blue arrow in the app) immediately after the clock strikes midnight in their respective time zones.
It’s a problem familiar to anyone who works on networks or services that see a dramatic spike in use at a particular time of day or year. U.S. telecommunications companies frequently install new base stations ahead of Super Bowls, state fairs, and presidential inaugurations for similar reasons.
“The biggest thing we worry about is: How do you prevent that cascading failure from happening?”
—Thomas Georgiou, software engineer
And people often try to resend messages that don’t appear to make it through right away, which piles on more requests.
Or, as Ahdout puts it, “once you start falling behind, you fall behind more.”
One way is to perform extensive load testing ahead of time
During a high-volume event, this allows the team to quickly discard certain types of messages, such as read receipts, to focus its resources on delivering ones that users have composed.
“We set up our systems so that if it comes to that, they start shedding the lowest-priority traffic.”
—Isaac Ahdout, engineering manager
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
CenturyLink says all consumer services impacted by a ~32-hour outage that started on Thursday, including its 911 emergency services, have been restored — 911 emergency services in several states across the U.S. went down after a massive outage at a CenturyLink data center.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/28/911-service-outage-centurylink/
911 emergency services in several states across the U.S. went down after a massive outage at a CenturyLink data center.
CenturyLink, one of the largest telecommunications providers in the U.S., provides internet and phone backbone services to major cell carriers, including AT&T and Verizon. Data center or fiber issues can have a knock-on effect to other companies, cutting out service and causing cell site blackouts.
In this case, the outage affected only cellular calls to 911, and not landline calls.
“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help,” said Pai in a statement. “The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling.”
“I’ve directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage. This inquiry will include an examination of the effect that CenturyLink’s outage appears to have had on other providers’ 911 services,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Enterprise router for under £45? MikroTik hAP AC Lite – Review and Performance Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNcYBWaKgTo
Today we’re going to take a look at an entry level wireless router from MikroTik – The hAP AC Lite. This device supports all the features of MikroTik’s powerful RouterOS operating system while costing under £45. We’ll also take a look at some performance tests to see what this thing is capable of.
Comments:
They also have an amazingly affordable 10Gb, four SFP+, fanless router/switch, the MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN.
The MikroTik “passive PoE” is actually compatible with Ubiquiti “passive PoE”. I have an EdgeRouter X SFP powering both a UniFi AP-AC-LR and a MikroTik RB260GS switch. Still not as nice as real PoE, but nice that you can mix and match the low end UBNT and MikroTik stuff.
I lost my patience with consumer-grade equipment long ago, so it was really nice when I discovered Ubiquiti’s EdgeRouter equipment. If I hadn’t already had an SRX as the firewall, an EdgeRouter PoE would’ve got this job.
I wish I’d discovered the EdgeRouter X before I bought several “Easy Smart” switches (because I needed VLANs). The “Easy Smart” switches ranged from “slightly dodgy” to “complete rubbish” in terms of web interface and configurability, whereas EdgeOS is far superior and its web interface works everywhere. For $50, this thing does pretty much everything I would want: VLANs and dynamic routing in particular.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
CenturyLink says all consumer services impacted by a ~32-hour outage that started on Thursday, including its 911 emergency services, have been restored
911 emergency services go down across the US after CenturyLink outage
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/28/911-service-outage-centurylink/
911 emergency services in several states across the U.S. went down after a massive outage at a CenturyLink data center.
police departments tweeted out alternative numbers for 911 in the event of an emergency.
Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates and monitors 911 services, said the commission is investigating the outage.
“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help,” said Pai in a statement. “The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling.”
“I’ve directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Echo Huang / Quartz:
China-owned spacecraft maker CASIC launches first of 156 satellites intended to provide internet service by 2022 to rural China and then to developing countries — Over the weekend, China launched a satellite into low-earth orbit, the first step of a plan to provide global satellite internet …
China got on the bandwagon to provide global satellite internet
https://qz.com/1506358/china-got-on-the-bandwagon-to-provide-global-satellite-internet/
Over the weekend, China launched a satellite into low-earth orbit, the first step of a plan to provide global satellite internet to people who still don’t have reliable access.
Nearly 3.8 billion people are unconnected to the internet, and women and rural poor are particularly affected.
CASIC intends to launch all the Hongyun satellites by around 2022 to form a constellation that will improve internet access in remote parts of China, and eventually in developing countries, a plan first announced in 2016. Most of the satellites will operate 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) above the earth, far lower than satellites are typically placed. The project is “moving the internet currently on the ground into the sky,” said Hou Xiufeng, a spokesperson for CASIC, “It’s China’s first true low-orbit communication satellite… The launch will greatly boost commercial space.”
China’s move comes as a number of companies look at fixing satellite internet, which has the potential to give people access to the internet no matter where they are on earth, bridging the limits of cable infrastructure. It’s been around for a while but service hasn’t been great—it’s seen slow upload speeds due to satellite distance, and data caps because of limited numbers of satellites providing the service.
The most ambitious reinvention of satellite access, SpaceX’s Starlink project, is on an entirely differently scale from China’s Hongyun project. SpaceX is looking at putting some 12,000 satellites into operation at altitudes between 335 and 346 km.
SpaceX has launched two test satellites this year, and will launch the first batch of the constellation by the end of 2019 with the aim of starting the service, which it expects to eventually be very profitable, in 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, Dies at 81
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/obituaries/lawrence-g-roberts-dies-at-81.html
In late 1966, a 29-year-old computer scientist drew a series of abstract figures on tracing paper and a quadrille pad. Some resembled a game of cat’s cradle; others looked like heavenly constellations; still others like dress patterns.
Those curious drawings were the earliest topological maps of what we now know as the internet. The doodler, Lawrence G. Roberts, died on Dec. 26 at his home in Redwood City, Calif. He was 81.
Dr. Roberts was considered the decisive force behind packet switching, the technology that breaks data into discrete bundles that are then sent along various paths around a network and reassembled at their destination. He decided to use packet switching as the underlying technology of the Arpanet; it remains central to the function of the internet.
And it was Dr. Roberts’s decision to build a network that distributed control of the network across multiple computers. Distributed networking remains another foundation of today’s internet.
He long believed that a computer network was of little importance unless it was used in interesting ways. As early as 1968, he exhorted his colleagues to create applications for the nascent network. ARPA, for instance, was one of the largest early users of electronic mail.
“Larry led us to uncover potential that we never would have seen had he not pushed so hard for increased functionality,” said Vinton G. Cerf, Google’s chief internet evangelist and a graduate student in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles when Dr. Roberts was overseeing the building of the Arpanet. “He pushed all of us to find ways in which we could make good on the promise of resource sharing.”
Email, an application that ARPA-sponsored researchers had spent a great deal of time developing, quickly became one of the most popular applications on the Arpanet. When asked about that at a technical conference in 1986, Dr. Roberts said he was not surprised.
The ARPA director “decided it was a great thing, and he made everybody in ARPA use it,” Dr. Roberts said. “So all these managers of ballistic missile technology, who didn’t know what a computer was, had to start using electronic mail.”
In 2018, the biggest problem he saw with the internet was network security.
“I envision someday getting software into the network that helps curb attacks, but that’s going to take a lot of work,” he said. “It’s got to be distributed around the network in order to solve the problem. So that’s the project I keep thinking about, but I don’t have a solution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei Expects 21% Revenue Rise Despite ‘Unfair’ Treatment
https://www.securityweek.com/huawei-expects-21-revenue-rise-despite-unfair-treatment
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Investigating CenturyLink Internet Outage, 911 Failures
https://www.securityweek.com/us-investigating-centurylink-internet-outage-911-failures
U.S. officials and at least one state said Friday that they have started investigations into a nationwide CenturyLink internet outage that has disrupted 911 service.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai called the outage that began Thursday “completely unacceptable” because people who need help couldn’t use the emergency number.
“Its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he said.
The commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will investigate the cause and effect of the outage, he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC Chairman Pai celebrates Congress failing to bring back net neutrality
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/02/fcc-chairman-pai-celebrates-failure-to-nullify-his-net-neutrality-repeal/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Democrats handily retook in November. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is more pleased with what the House failed to do — namely, roll back his repeal of net neutrality rules.
To be fair, he does have reason to celebrate; no one likes to see their work undone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kumu Networks: Full Duplex on One Channel
https://semiengineering.com/kumu-networks-full-duplex/
Well-funded startup offers self-interference cancellation tech for single-frequency transmit and receive.
Kumu Networks is in an enviable position fitting today’s requirements for radio-frequency system designs. The Sunnyvale, Calif., startup, incorporated in 2011 and coming together the following year, has developed self-interference cancellation technology, enabling radios to send and receive signals at the same time on the same channel or on an adjacent channel. This full-duplex technology has applications in wireless and wireline communications.
With this patented technology, crafted by Stanford professors and graduate students, Kumu is able to address a variety of markets—cable networks, LTE and 5G cellular communications, microwave, military/aerospace, satellite and Wi-Fi.
Kumu touts its technology for doubling spectral efficiency and addressing spectrum scarcity, especially for frequencies lower than 6 GHz.
Mesh networks are the hot topic when it comes to wireless communications, whether they are LTE relay nodes, mobile ad-hoc networks, modern Wi-Fi extenders or old-fashioned repeaters. Self-interference cancellation tech can also help sort things out in the area of unlicensed frequency bands, which involve the Bluetooth, LTE-Unlicensed, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and Z-Wave protocols.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Loon’s Balloons Will Fly Over Kenya in First Commercial Telecom Tryout
https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/loons-balloons-will-fly-over-kenya-in-first-commercial-telecom-tryout
Kenya runs on mobile phones. There are almost 43 million in use by Kenya’s nearly 50 million citizens, meaning the East African country has the 33rd highest mobile phone usage in the world. By comparison, it has fewer than 70,000 fixed landlines.
And yet, outside of major cities like Nairobi, the infrastructure for mobile telephony is lacking. That’s why, in 2019, telecommunications provider Telkom Kenya will begin turning to high-altitude balloons built by the Alphabet subsidiary Loon to provide mobile phone service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Towns And Cities Keep Ditching Comcast To Build Their Own Broadband Networks
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190102/07265341316/towns-cities-keep-ditching-comcast-to-build-their-own-broadband-networks.shtml
We’ve long talked about the more than 750 towns, cities, and counties that have responded to US broadband market failure by building their own broadband networks. We’ve also talked at length about how data has shown these networks often offer better service at lower, more transparent prices than their purely private sector counterparts, whose apathy has only grown in the wake of limited competition. And, of course, we’ve talked at great length about the 21 state laws giant ISPs have quite literally written and purchased in a bid to try and keep this phenomenon from taking root.
Those protectionist efforts aren’t working all that well.
https://muninetworks.org/communitymap
Tomi Engdahl says:
FMT 9600E Hyperscale DWDM Connect, 960Gbps for 85km Dual Fiber BIDI End-to-End Metro Transport Platform, Dual 100V-240VAC in 2U Managed Chassis
https://www.fs.com/de/en/products/73808.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkrCEo8vZ3wIVT1kYCh2FoATOEAEYASABEgKrz_D_BwE
The FMT 9600E is a DWDM multiplexer member of the FMT Series offering 96CH MUX/DEMUX. The FMT 9600E requires amplification and other signal conditioning elements to implement metro network transport up to 85km. Depending on the type of connectivity required, it can be configured with combination of EDFAs and DCM modules to handle all protocols up to 960Gbps. Adding OEO (transponders sold separately) at both ends does not change the transport distance, but extends on the line.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elon Musk Plans To Give The Entire Planet Free Wi Fi, Here Is How He Will Do It
http://www.thespaceacademy.org/2019/01/elon-musk-plans-to-give-entire-planet.html?m=1
In Musk’s case though, the project is about sending top-grade satellites into space, and not a few, we are talking about 4425 satellites, in a project that will cost a whopping $10bn.
As far as the details of the mission are concerned, satellites will measure 4×1.8×1.2 cubic metres, offsetting the solar panels on board.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/17/elon-musk-satellites-internet-spacex
Tomi Engdahl says:
Milestone Experiment Proves Quantum Communication Really Is Faster
By
KEVIN HARTNETT
December 19, 2018
https://www.quantamagazine.org/milestone-experiment-proves-quantum-communication-really-is-faster-20181219/
In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting information are superior to classical ones.
Quantum communication allows for a certain type of information to be sent in exponentially fewer bits than classical communication.
Tomi Engdahl says:
QAM Is Rising: 1024QAM And Beyond
https://www.mwrf.com/systems/qam-rising-1024qam-and-beyond?PK=UM_Classics01119&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=22440&utm_medium=email&elq2=9f84c63aa0b04b12899e0fcd5e2d3078
Higher modulation levels support more efficient communications, but require receivers with extremely low noise levels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/01/08/telia-luopuu-lankapuhelimista/
Lankapuhelimien käyttö on viime vuosina romahtanut kännyköiden yleistyessä. Nyt Telia kertoo lakkauttavansa lankapuhelinpalvelujen tarjoamisen tämän vuoden kuluessa.
Lankapuhelinliittymien määrä on laskenut tasaisesti. Telialla liittymiä on silti edelleen noin 30 000, joista kuluttajaliittymiä toisin vain joitakin tuhansia.
Telian matkapuhelinverkon väestöpeitto on 99,9 prosenttia
Vuosia sitten kun Elisa halusi pois lankaliittymistään yritys markkinoi lankapuhelinasiakkaille erityistä kännykkäkotiliittymää, jossa sai säilytettyä virtuaalisesti tutun suuntanumerollisen lankanumeron.
Lankapuhelinten osuus puheliikenteestä on Suomessa enää noin kolme prosenttia
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8905-telia-lopettaa-lankapuhelut
Tomi Engdahl says:
Network Optimization in the 600G Era
https://www.lightwaveonline.com/whitepapers/2019/01/network-optimization-in-the-600g-era.html?123&cmpid=eg_lightwave__2018-11-26&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=316207186&bid=2339230
Data rates of 100G per wavelength once confined to the long-haul core portions of the network are now extending towards the edges of the network. Today, 600G per wavelength speeds are becoming available for use in the core as well as for data center interconnect (DCI) traffic enabled by the latest innovations in digital signal processing, optical, and mixed-signal component technologies. High modulation orders and high baud rates are now possible. These technologies also introduce advanced capabilities that allow the flexible fine-tuning of the optical transmission resulting in capacity optimization. Today’s coherent technology enables common optical hardware to achieve the high-performance finesse of a long-distance link, the sheer raw capacity for shorter DCI/edge links, and everything in between.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hyperlocal radio and do-it-yourself networks bring information closer to home
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/hyperlocal-radio-and-do-it-yourself-networks-bring-information-closer-home.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share
By taking a fresh look at community radio – with an FM signal broadcast over a catchment area of only a few kilometres – researchers are finding new and surprising ways to connect remote or rural communities, even in areas where communications may be patchy.