February 2009 Archives

A digital economy is essential to Britain's future, claims the government. Why, then, is it taxing small fibre-optic network operators out of the market?

That's the question posed by an article in guardian.co.uk today about the plight of Sohonet, a niche fibre network provider that specializes in transfer of the huge video files between London film organizations and TV studios like Pinewood.

The article reveals something I hadn't really thought about before... that the UK government currently views fibre-optic cable as a "rateable asset", lumping it in with other commercial property as something with value that businesses should pay tax on.

And it's not cheap either: starting at £330 for a single fibre per kilometre on a long-distance network up to 3000 km long — the price that Sohonet would have to consider if it wanted to extend its network from London out to Bristol. (For spreadsheet lovers, the UK Valuation Office Agency (VOA) lists the rates here.)

For Sohonet, which is already paying more in taxes for its fibre-optic cables than it makes in profits each year, that makes the network extension prohibitively expensive. I don't want to steal the journalist's thunder, so read the article for yourself to find out why this issue runs deeper.

CUDOS team

Over the last week, plenty of news outlets have been running stories on an optical waveguide that performs 640 Gbit/s demultiplexing. We're not ignoring the story, it's just that we covered it last summer. You can read about it here:

Photonic chip chases terabit processing.

As the article explains, there's plenty of work to be done to make a prototype, let alone a product. As far as I can see, the main development since last summer is that the researchers have now published their work in a journal. But although this is only an R&D project, I think it's a very interesting one.

In an email to industry editors, Nortel says that the previously announced divestiture of its Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business has been put on hold while the company is under Chapter 11 credit protection. Ryan Saxby Hill from Nortel's media relations team writes:

I wanted to drop you a note to confirm a point that is flying around today:

Thanks,
Ryan

It's always the same here in the UK: a light covering of snow and the country grinds to a halt. According to a report on the BBC website, mobile phone networks are buckling under the strain, and internet sites have crashed because people want to know silly things like if they can get to work, and if the London Underground is running.

Surely the Underground is running, most of it is er, underground?

We've had about two inches of snow where I live, so the schools are closed, and my multi-tasking skills are being brought to bear on the situation. While writing this blog entry, I am keeping half an eye on my children sledging down the street, which fortunately is aligned perfectly with the window of my office.

Seriously, however, I'm a bit shocked that a snap of cold weather can have such an impact on the internet. Is the infrastructure now running so close to capacity that a small spike in traffic can bring the internet to its knees?

More snow is due tomorrow. It's possible that all communications in the UK will be cut.