tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6 2008-07-23T17:11:45Z Movable Type 3.33 tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.775 2008-07-16T09:40:06Z 2008-07-23T17:11:45Z

Functional separation gets the green light.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Last week the the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament voted on the European Commission's proposals to reform European telecoms regulations. To sum up, the parliamentary committees accepted a number of key proposals, including the addition of functional separation to the toolbox of national regulators to stimulate competition. This would give the national regulator the power to require a dominant operator to separate its access network infrastructure and service arms, in order to give other competitors a fair chance to offer services using that infrastructure. This is a big deal, according to Heavy Reading's Graham Finnie, who asks if functional separation is Europe's secret weapon. But it's not clear, to me at least, who that weapon will be used against. Functional separation will be invoked as a remedy to ensure competition, competition drives down consumer broadband prices, and that would propel Europe to the front line of the broadband revolution. It's worked out quite well here in the UK, where BT hived off its copper access network into a separate entity, Openreach, back in 2005. BT, however, has indicated that being forced to share new fibre infrastructure would be a huge disincentive to rolling out a national fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. Clearly the remedy of functional separation must be handled very carefully if Europe is to avoid shooting itself in the foot when it comes to next-generation access. As an aside, while I totally agree with Finnie that the European Comission's internet portal is not for the faint-heated, I'm feeling rather smug because I have found a short-cut via EU telecoms commissioner Vivane Reding's homepage, which highlights the key developments in telecoms regulations. But back to last week's vote. Things didn't all go Reding's way. Although the parliamentary committees voted in favour of creating a new body composed of independent telecoms regulators, to be called the Body of European Regulators for Telecommunications (BERT), it appears that this new structure has substantially less powers than originally proposed. There also seem to be a question mark over how it will be funded. On top of that it has a rather unfortunate acronym that conjures up the image of a geriatric with a white stick — not what they intended I'm sure.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.874 2008-07-01T18:05:54Z 2008-07-04T10:51:42Z

FibreSystems TV launches this week.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Looking at this from a philosophical point of view, the reason I'm sitting here tapping out this blog entry is entirely due to the popularity of internet video. Video already comprises 60% of all traffic on the internet, and is pushing the optical networking industry into a renewed period of growth. While experts are still debating exactly how fast internet traffic is increasing, there's no denying that the growth is substantial. So it seems appropriate that a website that covers optical networking should be choosing video as the new medium for delivering its message. Indeed, how could a website like fibresystems.org not take advantage of the very technologies that its target market enables? With this in mind, the fibresystems.org team headed down to the French Riviera to IIR's WDM & Next Generation Optical Networking conference last week. As temperatures soared, we eschewed bright sunshine and the balmy waters of the Mediterranean in favour of some vendor booths in a basement room of the Hotel Palais Stephanie, where we found Sinclair Vass, director EMEA for JDSU, who was keen to spend his afternoon with us (see image below). The result of our labours will be online in a couple of days. This was no "stream of consciousness" type of film project, where the viewer sees virtually unedited footage, warts and all. We went out to Cannes with the express intent of producing high-quality videos that would both inform and entertain, and we certainly think we've achieved that. Watch them on http://fibresystems.org/cws/video/fstv/ and judge for yourself! Credit must go where credit is due. The man behind the camera is David Hart from Icebox, who was assisted by sound man Nigel (sorry Nigel, I forgot your surname). David was full of creative and practical tips, and even persuaded me to wear lippy — I'm usually a "life's too short for make-up" kind of a girl, although I suspect that may change as I continue to get older. The video project was carefully planned and organized by Joe McEntee, group editor at IOP Publishing, and Jackie King, senior product manager, also at IOP Publishing. Incidentally, both Joe and Jackie were the driving forces behind FibreSystems Europe magazine back in the glorious bubble days of the late 1990s. For more information on how your company can use fibresystems TV to deliver its message, contact mattias.persson@iop.org.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.889 2008-06-20T18:33:23Z 2008-07-01T20:40:12Z

Are there enough FTTx's already?

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ If you thought FTTB meant fibre-to-the-building, then you're right, but you're also wrong. Yesterday I was in Amsterdam to get up close and personal with the city's fibre-to-the-home project (more on that to follow), and along certain canalsides in Amsterdam it means fibre-to-the-boat. Yes, Glasvezelnet Amsterdam (GNA), the company that owns the CityNet infrastructure, has connected houseboats to the city's high-speed fibre network, which it reckons — not surprisingly — is a world's first. A new kind of robust optical connector allows houseboats to physically connect to the network upon mooring, and disconnect when necessary. "I now have ultra-fast internet, TV and telephone connection through one single cable," says Oliver Ax, owner of Amsterdam's first connected houseboat (pictured). 80% of Amsterdam residents live in apartments, and since I didn't see any houses when I was there, does that mean that 20% of them live on houseboats? With all those canals it's certainly possible. But that's not the most weird and wacky FTTx I heard on my trip. That would have to be fibre-to-the-ice hotel.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.873 2008-06-17T13:51:55Z 2008-06-24T20:54:41Z

Fibre gets to some interesting places.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Draka. For instance did you know that every Airbus 350 has 500km of Draka cable inside it? Or that the BMW 5 Series has over 3.5km of Draka cable circling its innards. What's more, 52 out of 55 of the world's tallest buildings have Draka fibre inside, the company claims, including the Burj Dubai, which took over from Tapei 101 as the ultimate skyscraper in July 2007 — even though it isn't finished yet. Draka says it produces enough fibre-optic cable every day to circle the globe. When you consider that Draka is only one of a number of large cable making firms, it all adds up to a mind-boggling amount of fibre being manufactured every day. Here's hoping for a press trip to see what fibre can do for the world's tallest building — so long as it hasn't fallen down yet. ]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.864 2008-06-16T12:44:23Z 2008-06-24T20:38:13Z

A little light reading from Alcatel-Lucent.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Breaking the barriers. What's more according to a press release issued today, Alcatel-Lucent is giving away the first few copies at its NXTcomm booth — don't all rush at once! Breaking the barriers is pitched as a visionary view of operators' broadband access strategies , a subject that's changing so fast that it was necessary to overhaul the content of the book just 18 months after the first edition was published. The book itself has a minimalist look, finished with a simple plain white dust jacket. But inside it's far from minimalist — it contains no less than 40 contributions from some of the industry's most forward-thinking minds, and includes carrier perspectives on the evolution of their broadband access networks, case studies and regulatory comment, as well as technical discussions from Alcatel-Lucent experts, of course. Curious? fibresystems.org will be publishing a selection of articles from the book in our white papers section. UPDATE 23/06/08: The first two papers, Citynet Dynamics in Europe - The State of Municipal Fiber to the Home and Fiber Migration - A French Perspective on Very High-Speed Broadband are now online. Enjoy!]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.813 2008-05-23T17:29:54Z 2008-05-23T18:18:14Z

Images sent via a tunnel under the Atlantic.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Telectroscope, an optical device that miraculously allows people to see from London to New York via a tunnel that runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. St George tried to dig his tunnel and failed, but his papers were found in the attic by his grandson, the artist Paul St George, who claims to have completed the work. The Telectroscope opened this week, and folk can now sign up to communicate with friends or loved ones on the other side of the ocean. But they should remember to take a cellphone or a pen and message board — the link only transmits video. The Telectroscope will remain open until June 15th. I like the romantic notion that the device works using a transatlantic tunnel, as St George maintains but, rather predictably, it is actually the product of two high-definition cameras connected through a fibre-optic link. Shame.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.806 2008-05-22T20:33:50Z 2008-05-23T10:01:00Z

Ethernet is 35 years old today.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ OFC/NFOEC show back in February. (And yes, I've been saving up this little factoid ever since). Ethernet's come a long way since 1973 when it ran at 2.4 Mbit/s, which was a pretty zippy speed for the time. "Imagine my delight at conferences like this where the discussion was whether 300 baud was enough," Metcalfe recalled. "At 600 baud the characters raced past on the screen so fast you couldn't read them anyway, so why would you need a 600 baud modem?" In 1978 Metcalfe worked on a fibre-optic version of Ethernet, which ran at 150 Mbit/s. "Ironically in 1978 even though we were running at 150Mbit/s with this optical fibre system, the core circuits of the network were running at 50 kbit/s, 3000 times slower," he said. "Needless to say this fibre-optic Ethernet did not take off in 1978, in fact it would be 20 more years before Ethernet went optical again." The Ethernet we have today has changed almost out of all recognition from the Ethernet of 35 years ago. For starters it's broken out of the LAN and into the wide area network. What's more it has to handle time-sensitive video and voice traffic, something that was never imagined at the start. And of course it's a lot faster. The next hike in speed takes us to 100 Gbit/s, with standards likely to be finalized later this year by the IEEE Higher Speed Study Group. I wonder what Ethernet will look like in another 35 years... because I'd like to bet it will still be with us in one shape or another.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.801 2008-05-21T21:42:22Z 2008-05-23T18:21:40Z

The UK PM embraces YouTube.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ an internet version of Prime Minister's Question Time. Or to put it another way, he's finally cottoned on to the phenomenon of social networking. The initiative certainly seems popular — over 4,000 users have already subscribed to the site — but whether it lives up to expectations remains to be seen. Brown is inviting submissions by 21 June, which seems an awfully long time for a generation reared on instant messaging, and does not guarantee to answer all questions anyway. I know what my question to the PM would be. The UK government would like fibre-to-the-home to be delivered by the private sector, but the private sector's view is that the market doesn't justify the investment. There's a huge disconnect between the two standpoints, with the result that fibre-to-the home penetration in the UK is virtually zero. How does the government plan to encourage the necessary investment? ]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.798 2008-05-20T16:36:31Z 2008-05-20T17:35:05Z

The lowdown on recent website changes.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ fibresystems.org blog now has its own panel on the homepage so you can see at a glance what's new and click straight to it. Other changes in the pipeline in the next few months include improvements to the search tool, which will allow you to search the site by date or by relevance, and to filter the results from different sections of the site. Plus we'll soon be launching a video channel to bring you vendor perspectives on the industry. Details of the video channel are being kept under wraps for now; all will be revealed at the end of June. One final point: fibresystems.org is as much your website as it is ours. As part of our ongoing development work, we'd love to get your feedback on what we could be doing better for you in terms of content delivery and site functionality. If you've got any constructive suggestions, even if you want to have a rant, just click on the commenting tool at the end of this article. Alternatively, you can drop me a note in confidence at pauline.rigby@iop.org.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.768 2008-05-09T11:18:54Z 2008-05-14T11:54:36Z

A chance to catch up on Metcalfe's OFC speech.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ plenary speech on Terabit Ethernet at OFC/NFOEC has been uploaded to the conference website. The audio quality is terrible, (compression may have something to answer for here), but it's worth a look if you missed the original. Audio-only recordings of the plenary speeches by fibre-optic pioneer Herwig Kogelnik of Bell Labs, and Pieter Poll, CTO of Qwest, are also online. ]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.706 2008-04-23T12:30:50Z 2008-07-01T20:34:44Z

The price of progress in electronics.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ article in IEEE Spectrum magazine on how the pace of innovation in electronics brings its fair share of problems as well as solutions. Technology obsolescence is a problem that affects everyone — every time I turn on my 4-year-old home PC, I think about buying a new and faster one. But in some industries, especially those where the technology is expected to last a long time, or be ultra reliable, the problem is particularly acute. Telecommunications provides the author with some fine examples.

"Consider one major telecommunications company (which wishes to remain unnamed for competitive reasons) that typically buys enough parts to fulfill its anticipated lifetime needs every time a component becomes obsolete. Currently, the company holds an inventory of more than $100 million in obsolete electronics, some of which will not be used for a decade, if ever.

That sounds expensive! What's more, the issue of obsolescence is getting ever more serious, says the author Peter Sandborn, who is associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland and a member of the university's Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering. In the 1960s, he says, the expected market availability for chips was between 20 and 25 years; now it's between two and five. Which means that by the time a chip is deployed, it's probably already obsolete. Could this help explain why an increasing number of telecoms network equipment manufacturers are turning to FPGAs, where the value lies not in the physical part but in the software put on it? An increasing number of systems vendors seem to be crowing about the time and money spent on developing their own ASICs — are they doing this so they can control the availability of the product? If so, that would seem to be a nail in the coffin for developers of high-end communications ICs.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.697 2008-04-18T18:58:38Z 2008-05-14T12:01:40Z

Speak up now, or forever hold your peace.

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ Millennium Technology Prize for their work on developing Erbium Doped-Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs). EDFAs, of course, are a key component of optical networks, which boost the power of optical signals without using electronics. They made the first long-distance subsea communications links possible. Judging by the thickness of those wodges of paper, the prize organizers (and their PR teams) have put some effort into researching the nominees. All the same, a dispute seems to have arisen over on Light Reading about who really did invent the EDFA. Important discoveries often have many contributors, and honouring just a few people is bound to put some noses out of joint. What about, for instance, the two other authors on Payne's early research paper on EDFAs, who aren't included in the nomination? The "EDFA inventors" are competing against Sir Alec Jeffreys from the University of Leicester, UK, who invented DNA fingerprinting, Andrew Viterbi, after whom the Viterbi Algorithm is named, and Robert Langer from MIT in the US, who developed biomaterials for controlled drug release and tissue regeneration. The winner will be revealed on 11 June.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.669 2008-04-10T00:14:38Z 2008-04-18T18:58:23Z

BT is behind with its rollout of its 21CN next-generation network, according to a report in icWales.co.uk. The Welsh should know, since they're supposed to be the first customers to be switched over to the new infrastructure. The PR folk...

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ 21CN next-generation network, according to a report in icWales.co.uk. The Welsh should know, since they're supposed to be the first customers to be switched over to the new infrastructure. The PR folk at ntl:Telewest have been quick to spot an opportunity there, and exploit it. Not only has the company commissioned a survey to show that potential customers are still "in the dark" on the timescale and benefits of 21CN, but it's also launched a website, www.showmethelight.co.uk touting ntl:Telewest's own network, which it claims is second in reach only to BT, and was built with an IP-based next-generation infrastructure from the outset. Of course, it's all spin on ntl:teleWest's part. Not all next generation networks were created equal, and 21CN is a massively ambitious project. But I'll admit to feeling a little "in the dark" on 21CN.]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.662 2008-04-04T10:13:52Z 2008-04-08T22:07:25Z

File this one under "old uses for new technology". Swedish septuagenarian Sigbritt Lothberg had the world's fastest internet connection, and what did she use it for? Drying her laundry, according to Swedish paper The Local. "It was a big bit...

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ The Local. "It was a big bit of gear and it got pretty warm," the paper reports. It turns out that Sigbritt is not just any 75 year old, she's mother to Peter Lothberg, an optical internet guru working for Cisco. Lothberg's logic for setting up a 40 Gbit/s connection to his mum's house seemed to be "if my mother can make it work, then anyone can." There's a presentation with all the details on his company's website here. Check out the photos, which show that's no ordinary router Sigbritt is installing in her garage, its a 4-slot Cisco CRS-1. Lothberg says his aim is to show that high-speed, long distance networking can be affordable. With a CRS-1? Surely a tumble drier would be cheaper?]]> tag:fibresystems.org,2008:/blog//6.641 2008-04-01T12:53:43Z 2008-04-02T16:12:27Z

The telecoms industry's concern about the dominance of Google has reached new heights, says a report in Light Reading. Apparently, the internet content provider disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today that it has developed...

Pauline Rigby http://fibresystems.org/ a report in Light Reading. Apparently, the internet content provider disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today that it has developed nuclear capabilities to help power its enormous server farms, but which could also be used to develop "land-based defence systems". Readers, let us know of any other telecoms related hoaxes you see today, and we'll post them here for everyone's enjoyment. ]]>