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Tag Archives: Ethernet Access
Could Broadband be the Shining Light of US Infrastructure?
As the political gears in the United States’ electoral machine begin to pick up speed, it’s fascinating to see the topics that are driving discussion. As you would expect, economic growth, employment and social welfare are some of the hot issues being bandied around by potential candidates. Yet one topic that has been largely absent from this early round of dialogue is the state of the country’s transport and communications infrastructure. Looking at some of the latest figures, this may be something that is about to change.
A recent Economist article highlights the critical condition of the country’s heavily overburdened air, rail and road systems. According to research from the World Economic Forum, the country’s infrastructure has actually deteriorated in recent years. In a global 2010 poll, the US was ranked 23rd for its transport systems. With much of the country travelling on antiquated air and rail networks or using roads that have fallen into disrepair, it isn’t surprising to find that this is impacting upon journey times.
Could VoIP Break the Mobile Industry?
As the ink still sets on Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, industry analysts are continuing to debate the wide-reaching implications of the deal. With a price tag of $8.5 billion, Microsoft is taking a huge gamble on Skype’s potential to turn a profit, something it hasn’t done in many years. Yet this gamble is more than just on Skype. Microsoft has used over a sixth of its cash reserve in the expectation that voice and video calls over IP will become the key communication tool for both business and personal users.
The long-held promise of voice and video calls over IP is still yet to reach maturity. Since its launch in 2003, Skype has experienced a difficult and at times slow development path. The much-publicised acquisition by eBay and the near collapse of the company in 2008 has seen its expansion delayed, especially into video conferencing and mobile applications. Additionally, the marketplace has become much fiercer. Google Voice, Apple’s FaceTime and T-Mobile’s Bobsled (currently enabling VoIP calls on Facebook) are just a few of the competing services challenging Skype’s dominance.
The Idea of a Consolidated Network
There was a lot of traffic at this year’s Ethernet Europe in London. The two-day conference and exhibition saw a high number of industry experts and a Carrier Ethernet debate that shifted away from hardware and technology to deployment scalability and service development.
While a few years ago, there was a lot of debate about the different choices of backhaul technologies including fiber, copper and microwave, there is now much greater agreement on making use of all technology alternatives available to build networks aligned with business needs. The ubiquitous delivery of services and their efficient management to enable new applications became far more important – whether for business, mobile backhaul or wholesale.
A New Battleground in the Net-Neutrality Debate: Device Neutrality
April’s proving to be an interesting month for those following the net-neutrality debate. Within the first week we’ve already seen the US Court of Appeals swing into action and dismiss Verizon and MetroPCS’ anti-net neutrality lawsuits filed against the FCC. Thrown out on a legal technicality, many expect these lawsuits to be re-filed shortly. However, while most eyes where following the legal wranglings on Capitol Hill, a new battleground in the neutrality debate has emerged and this time it’s focused on devices.
Since its launch, the iPad has been a disruptive tool. One need only look at publishing to see how the iPad has led an entire industry to question how it operates and, more importantly, how the public wants to consume books and magazines. The same can be said for other media too. In fact, it’s the very issue of consuming film and TV on the iPad that has raised a heated discussion on the topic of device neutrality and the rights consumers have to access video content on mobile devices.
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Cord Cutting Corporate Backbones Device Neutrality Ethernet Access FCC Grid/Cloud Computing iPad iPhone Jeff Lawrence Long Haul Transport Metro Core Transport MetroPCS Mobile Backhaul Mobile Devices Net Neutrality Packet Optical Transport Playon Time Warner Cable TV Verizon Video Wireline Backhaul
Could Data Caps Tame the WiFi Explosion?
After the initial frenzy of the iPad 2 launch, interesting figures on just how popular Apple’s new tablet is are starting to emerge. According to some sources, the iPad 2 sold over one million during its first weekend of release. I find this figure incredible. One million units in two days. Apparently sales continue to be brisk and one can only imagine what figures will be seen when the device reaches global availability.
Aside from sending Apple’s profits higher, I also wonder what impact these sales will have on the network. In only two days, we suddenly have one million more users consuming and distributing rich media (I appreciate that a number of these users will be upgrading from the original iPad). FaceTime, Skype, Netflix, Hulu. The wealth of media available on the iPad is staggering. Now, if these users are anything like me, they will spend most of their time accessing this media over their WiFi connection, especially considering current 3G data caps.
