Former US CTO Believes Tower Owners Should Play a Lead Role in FirstNet
AGL Magazine posted an article on former U.S. chief technology officer to the Obama administration, Aneesh Chopra’s recent speech at the Virginia Wireless Association’s 4G 4VA? wireless seminar. The speech discussed how it is necessary for the tower industry to enter into public/private partnerships to help keep FirstNet within its budgetary constraint. Both the speech and article give light to more clues on FirstNet for public safety and commercial use.
For the full article, click here http://agl-mag.com/tower-owners-can-play-role-in-firstnet/.
read moreThe Need for New Dark Fiber Routes – Examining Countries Most Vulnerable to an Internet Shutdown
A recent article on BuySellBandwidth titled ‘Countries Most Vulnerable to an Internet Shutdown‘ examines Forbes’ research on this topic.
Allied Fiber understands the current risks, vulnerabilities and present danger to the US terrestrial fiber systems and carrier hotels. Achieving maximum, realistic, physical diversity is one of the primary drivers of the Allied Fiber system for these reasons.
For the complete article, visit the following link:
http://blog.buysellbandwidth.com/countries-most-vulnerable-for-an-internet-shutdown/
America’s Need for a Real Fiber Plan
America Needs a Real Fiber Plan
Allied Fiber has said this repeatedly, but don’t take it from us. Susan Crawford says so – and she would know!
Click here for Susan’s full article:
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/12/hey-dont-forget-about-internet-access-in-the-u-s/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29
Allied Fiber on the Bandwidth Race
A recent column on Wired looked at the Bandwidth Race and Allied Fiber agrees with author Susan Crawford’s take. Spot-on Susan!
For the full article, click here:
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/10/bandwidth-race-plan/
Allied Fiber understands and agrees with these issues that the United States faces – and we are doing something about it!
The first step is to educate the masses about the reality. Ignorance is our greatest enemy. Beyond enlightenment is where the Plan is executed.
Keep on going Susan!
read moreSwitch it Off: Telegeography Highlights the Role Physical Infrastructure Plays in the Internet
A recent Telegeography news report entitled, “Switch it off, switch it on again: internet ‘restored’ in Syria” highlights the role that physical infrastructure plays in the Internet and all networks. It is the central component. Without it, there is no Internet and apparently no revolution.
The vulnerability of total loss, whether by nature, or man-made occurrence, is real and the results can be catastrophic on many levels potentially even determining the future of a country.
To read the full article, click here:
http://telegeography.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=12fee32cf02fafeb49f521d2f&id=ef54ce432f&e=7ebe53f311
Submarine Cable Wars
It is more than just worth noting, it is alarming how the subsea cable community can be so well aware and organized as to avoid specific places due to political unrest, geological issues, network congestion and avoidance of outright surveillance and data interception. Nothing brings the reality of these actions to light more than this article.
Light Reading
Avoiding Egypt: Where Cables Fear to Dredge
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=225138
The 1st Inning of IP Networking
Peering is local. It always will be. The world is literally in the 1st inning of IP networking. For thise that don’t know, the Allied Fiber model drives the ability to provide peering/caching further down in to smaller markets which has inherent, proven benefits.
Just as Africa has cut out routing through the USA and now goes through Europe it will one day keep its local traffic local, but only after the infrastructure has been built to support it.
The following article by Bill St. Arnaud explores this further.
“Up to 98% of Internet traffic now consists of content that can be cached locally on servers”
[It is interesting to see this report from Analysys Mason that
confirms my analysis several years ago that most Internet traffic is
moving to the edge delivered by Content Distribution Networks (CDN)
delivered at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) around the world. “In a
paper released yesterday, UK analyst firm Analysys Mason estimates
that 98 percent of internet traffic now consists of content that can
be stored on servers, such as streaming video or web pages. These
servers can be located in multiple locations around the world, and
then delivered to users faster and at lower cost. The result is a
shift in usage patterns and global Internet traffic flows. This
combined with deeper penetration of IXPs and caching means that the
way traffic flows across networks is changing too. The paper was
written to persuade governments that the proposed ITU regulatory
changes would hinder the growth of the web, but the report is well
worth reading as a way of understanding how the web has changed over
time. For example, 70% of international Internet bandwidth originating
in Africa went to the USA in 1999, but by 2011 this figure had plunged
to less than 5% as bandwidth shifted to Europe. Now, content is
increasingly being stored on servers in Africa, where it can be
accessed domestically or regionally.”
“Applying unwarranted static voice regulations to the dynamic
Internet would negatively impact users across the globe and slow or
reverse current growth trends. Furthermore, the rate regime system
would be difficult to design and expensive to implement, and even then
would increase the cost of content delivery and hinder network
investment at the expense of end users.”
It is not only CDNs but commercial clouds and social software
services like Facebook, Twitter, etc are part of this evolution. This
evolution in Internet traffic will have a major impact on Internet
architectures, addressing and naming. Please see
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1krqtbcQRdo0n_bjyJO8TT3ygUQMyd2nJBKWQmGT5hXw/edit
for more details. Research and Education networks can play a critical
role in developing open standards for CDN networks to distribute
research, education and public broadcast TV and radio. Please see my
previous blog on this subject
http://billstarnaud.blogspot.ca/2012/06/why-cdns-are-critical-to-future-of-r.html
For example At the last NANOG (North American Network Operators
Group) meeting in Vancouver CBC engineers gave a great presentation on
how they use Akamai and other CDNs (Content Distribution Networks) to
deliver CBC TV and Radio content over the Internet in Canada and
around the world.
This type of delivery of CBC broadcast content is called OTT (Over
The Top) is the same technique used by Netflix. OTT is critically
important in Canada, especially for Canadian broadcast content and
cultural material as we continue to see media consolidation in Canada
(re Bell takeover of Astral media). The larger commercial telcos and
cablecos hate OTT, have little interest in supporting Canadian
broadcast content, other than that they are required to carry by
regulation. When we eventually relax our foreign ownership
restrictions on telecom and cable, there will be greater push by
telcos and cablecos to be relieved of all Canadian content
restrictions. OTT may be the only way we can insure that a Canadian
voice will be heard in the future multi-media cacophony of competing
services delivered over the Internet.
IXPs as being developed by the Canadian Internet Registration
Authority (CIRA) and a number of regional networks will be critical
for delivering Canadian content OTT via CIRA’s integrated of Akamai
with the IXP. Smaller ISPs and community networks who have a vested
interested in promoting Canadian values and content need to
distinguish themselves from the oligopolistic telcos and cablecos .
CIRA’s leadership in deploying IXPs across Canada employing Akamai
CDN will be critical for the survival of those smaller ISPs and who
believe OTT is the future of delivery of broadcast content.
Gigacom on Analysys Mason Report
100 Terabytes a Day: How CBC Delivers Content to Canadians
How does Canada’s Public broadcaster deliver content to millions of
users a day as efficiently as possible?
This talk will touch upon the technologies, systems, and policies
used at CBC to deliver high quality streaming audio, video, and web
content as quickly and cheaply as possible to Canadians:
- Using CDNs to bring the content as close as possible to end users
- The nature of “news” generated network traffic and how to prepare
for it.
- Why peering with CBC directly (or any news organization) might be a
bad idea.
- Front End Optimizations (FEO) that are done to ensure minimal
traffic/bw usage between end users and the origin.
- Caching and how to best take advantage of it.
This talk will give attendees a look at how a large news organization
manages and deals with unpredictable network traffic at the
application level.
http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog55/presentations/Monday/Crosby.pdf
read moreNew Fiber Builds Linking to Sub Sea Cable – in Zimbabwe!
It should come as no surprise to anyone in the world that practically everyone in the world wants and needs faster connectivity. Most people outside of Zimbabwe might not know, or care about what is going on there, but it is quite telling. As remote and disconnected to some as this country may seem there exists a clear vision and path to an interconnected future. The basic elements are in place and now begins the path to execution.
For all of those too busy, or too smart to care to notice, there are many places just as remote and disconnected right here in the USA. If your response is, “Well, that’s why I don’t live there”, consider that those Americans contribute to the GDP of the country and a stronger US economy means your life wherever you do live improves as theirs does. A logical and methodical investment in fiber to enable global connectivity is the way forward for everyone. Just ask Zimbabwe.
read moreDefinition Makes All the Difference
This is the perfect example of how in this industry everyone uses the same words and terms, but also have different definitions for them.
Apparently some carriers intentionally use words and terms very loosely purely for marketing reasons.
Other words, like Broadband, are poorly defined in the public marketplace, but get very specifically defined in State legislatures by incumbent carriers as a very low-speed, copper-based service to protect the incumbent’s interests and, or as something that is “illegal” for certain entities, such as municipalities, to provide themselves.
Fiber is such a word. It has no single meaning, or definition when referenced in the context of a product, or service provided by a carrier. The word fiber could mean dark, lit, or managed and it says nothing of the age, type, count, access points, cost of the fiber, or if it is aerial, or underground. These are the critical details that make all of the difference.
read moreU.S. Cellular Find Over 50% of Consumers Unhappy with Wireless Service
Look around the US and it is unfortunately easy to find unhappy people that are not satisfied with their current situations. Wireless service is on that list. Sadly, although everyone seeks better options, there do not happen to be any at the moment. A clear plan to “create” options, which by the way also creates jobs, creates productivity and creates GDP growth, is in high demand.
Read on for an excerpt from the report.
More Than 50 Percent of Consumers Are Unhappy With Their
Wireless Provider in New Study From U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular Launches New Campaign to Help Those in
Dysfunctional Wireless Relationships
CHICAGO, July 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A study announced today by
U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM) indicates that 43 percent of individuals are
in the “seven year itch” phase with their wireless provider, noting
they are comfortable but suspect they are missing out on something
better. Out of the 1,208 participants polled across four regions of the
country, 56 percent of the respondents admitted to being unhappy with
their carrier over the past year but only 35 percent of all respondents
have ever broken up with their provider. In spite of this overall
dissatisfaction, respondents are hesitant to call it quits. It’s no
secret that people are frustrated with their wireless experience, but
people tolerate less because they don’t believe there is a better
option. More than one-third (37 percent) of respondents say they stick
with their current provider because they believe all carriers are the
same, it is too much trouble to switch carriers, or they don’t want to
sign a new contract.
For the complete report, visit the following link, http://www.uscellular.com/about/press-room/2012/MORE-THAN-50-PERCENT-OF-CONSUMERS-ARE-UNHAPPY-WITH-THEIR-WIRELESS-PROVIDER-IN-NEW-STUDY-FROM-USCELLULAR.html.
read more
