 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
100G transceiver market to surpass 40G: In its latest 10G/40G/100G Optical Transceivers Market Size and Forecast, Infonetics says that by 2013, 100G will surpass 40G product growth. The research firm says that pricing for 100G products will compare favorably to 40G. Overall, the global 10G, 40G, and 100G optical transceiver market is forecast to grow to $2.6 billion by 2015, more than doubling from $1.2 billion in 2010. Utilities hone in on M2M communications: Electric and gas utilities' increased reliance on the wireless network for smart grid deployments will help drive more M2M communication node shipments. Making the FTTH/B case work: In 2010, more than 10 percent of the world's broadband households had a Fiber to the Home/Business connection, and this figure will more than double by 2016, says Pyramid Research. FTTX prices beat out DSL: In its new "The Cost of Fiber-Based Broadband" study, Strategy Analytics says that fiber-based broadband offerings not only deliver higher speeds, but they are priced much lower than traditional DSL services. Click headline to read more--
Lightower continues to ride the low latency train, and its latest announcement that its services are available in 15 locations throughout New York City and New Jersey reflects that trend. Targeting the region's financial markets, the new low point to point low latency routes leverage the service provider's optical wavelength technology combined with its diverse fiber routes to the area's main data centers and interconnection facilities. Available in 1 and 10 Gbps bandwidth levels, financial service companies and other latency sensitive enterprises can purchase a custom configured circuit, which are backed with a strict latency Service Level Agreement (SLA). Over the past year, a low latency goldrush has emerged with various service providers offering new services targeting the financial community, and Lightower is no different. Click headline to read more--
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission are preparing for the first nationwide test of the emergency alert system The familiar alert is often tested at local levels, but it has never been tested across the entire nation at once. The test is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. "The various disasters our country has faced this year underscore the need for effective and well-tested emergency alert and warning systems that could be used in a time of real emergency, at a moment's notice," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wrote in a letter to agencies and other organizations. The test will send an approximately 30-second signal on all broadcast radio and television stations, cable television systems, satellite radio and television systems, and wireline video service systems. Click headline to read more--
In Springfield, they either called it "the ComEd bill" or the "smart grid bill": legislation hundreds of pages long outlining a plan to modernize the state's 100-year-old electrical grid. Large chunks of that legislation, however, have little to do with the smart grid, which is the term used to describe an automated, interactive and computerized electrical grid. Instead, much of the law is devoted to overhauling the regulatory system that decides electric rate hikes for consumers — changes that mean millions of dollars per year to Commonwealth Edison Co. In the utility's battle to override Gov. Pat Quinn's veto of the legislation, the bill gained support through additions that addressed specific concerns of legislators, environmental groups and business leaders. For their efforts, ComEd gained regulatory changes that ultimately mean yearly rate hikes for consumers and faster financial returns for the Chicago-based Exelon Corp. subsidiary. The utility says the efficiencies gained from the new system will ultimately mean cheaper rates for consumers. Click headline to read more--
Alaska’s Congressional Delegation remains committed to fighting for Alaskans to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) reform of the Universal Services Fund (USF) continues to provide support for the telecommunications services in rural America, including rural areas of Alaska. The FCC voted on October 27 to reform the USF, part of a major effort to overhaul a system that was designed in the early days of the Internet, when services came through dial-up phone lines. Alaska’s U.S. Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski, along with Representative Don Young, have all worked for months to educate the FCC about the challenges of rural Alaska and the need to continue to invest in communications infrastructure in the state. “I was pleased to host FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in Alaska this summer so he could see first-hand the challenges we have in bringing rural Alaska into the modern world in terms of broadband, Internet and all of the important communications technology we need to stay competitive,” Begich said. “As we continue to build out our telecommunications infrastructure, we need sustained investment to make sure all of our communities have broadband capabilities like the rest of the country enjoys.” Click headline to read more--
Backed by millions of dollars in new grant money, "creative placemaking" promises to breathe new life into hard-hit urban areas. Will it work? Click on headline to read more--
Research is critical to advancing North Dakota and the nation as a whole,” states Marsha Krotseng, Vice Chancellor for Strategic Planning in the North Dakota University System. “Research plays an important role in our state’s economy and has been a key factor in North Dakota’s increased competitiveness over the past decade.” J. Pat Costello, Commissioner, South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, adds states (like South Dakota) are dedicated to research because it solves a problem in an industry within the state, creates opportunities for jobs, and builds a cluster that can grow over time. South Dakota has 10 research centers in operation. Five of the Centers have ‘graduated’ or no longer receiving state ‘Center’ funding. The other five centers are in their third year. From Fiscal Year 2005 to Fiscal Year 2011, South Dakota invested $24.6 million into the research centers. During that time the research centers generated $155 million in ‘non-center funding’ primarily from federal agencies and private sources. Click headline to read more--
The regulatory scrutiny is starting to get to AT&T and its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA. AT&T disclosed in its quarterly regulatory filing that it now expects the deal to close in the first half of 2012, compared with its previous target of the first quarter. The Dow Jones Newswires was the first to report the change. The regulatory scrutiny has also caused it to push back the target date for its acquisition of spectrum from Qualcomm. AT&T now expects that deal to close in the first quarter of 2012, rather than the end of the year. The companies are waiting for approval from the Federal Communications Commission. AT&T has been under increasing pressure to demonstrate why an acquisition of T-Mobile would benefit consumers. The Justice Department sued to block the deal, citing concern for innovation in the wireless industry and the risk of increased prices. Sprint Nextel and regional carrier C Spire (formerly Cellular South) have also piggybacked atop the Justice Department with their own lawsuits challenging the deal. Click headline to read more--
People often ascribe technological devices with magical properties, as though the inert objects in and of themselves can bestow us with the capacity to be "better, faster, and more productive." In actuality, it is the people making and using technological devices to achieve shared goals that produce the seemingly magical results. In a similar way, this Microsoft infographic seemed to suggest that simply having a home computer with Internet would fix billions of dollars of lost-earning potential due to nearly 10 million American students lacking access to digital tools. Certainly, increasing access to digital tools is a necessary step towards solving the problem, but as technologies of the moment come and go, it’s even more important to ground digital inclusion agendas in the skills that youth will need to become and remain informed, engaged and discerning in a ever-rapidly changing technologically-infused world. Click headline to read more--
Education is FCC National Broadband Plan National Need #3. Libraries are local community anchor institutions focused directly on learning, working alongside schools, museums, cultural and social service centers, business centers, and congregations. Below are Local (A), State (B), and National (C)) resources on how to best use and demonstrate through graphics, photographs and stories the daily benefits to youth, adults, seniors, businesses, and public agencies of exploiting every community library’s human and technology resources. Click headline to read more--
The United States has yet to find a solution that assures seamless communications among first responders and emergency personnel at the scene of a major disaster. Since September 11, 2001, when communications failures contributed to the tragedies of the day, Congress has passed several laws intended to create a nationwide emergency communications capability. The 111th Congress considered pivotal issues, such as radio frequency spectrum license allocation and funding programs for a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN), without finding a solution that satisfied the expectations of both public safety and commercial network operators. Click headline to read more and to download this Congressional Research Serivce Report--
Last week, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) hinted at a Broadband Investment Dinner organised for investors at the just concluded ITU World 2011 hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland that Nigeria would soon begin the process for the auctioning of Digital Dividend Spectrum, a telecommunication licence that would ensure massive investment in broadband infrastructure, entrenching e-commerce and job creations for big and small businesses. Today, broadband infrastructure is inseparable from economic development of nations and Nigeria’s march towards becoming a top economy by the year 2020 cannot be complete without broadband infrastructure deployment across the breath of the nation. Click headline to read more--
The state of Ceará, in Northeast Brazil, contributes only to 2% of the Brazilian GDP. Yet, it will soon host the Brazil’s largest public broadband Internet network. The Cinturão Digital do Ceará (CDC), which translates as Ceará’s Digital Big Belt, will be inaugurated this Thursday by the governor Cid Gomes and the Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante. So why did the local authorities decide to invest around R$50m (US$28.6m) into this initiative? Click headline to find out why--
|
Of the 75 million broadband subscribers in the US around 42 million, or 56%, have some form of data cap in place from their internet service provider (ISP) according to data from Leichtman Research Group. However, despite all the negative publicity data caps affect less than 2% of customers (of those using providers who enforce data caps). This begs the question: why would internet providers pursue a policy that is such a PR disaster? Which ISPs cap data, what are the caps, and what happens if you exceed the cap? Click headline to read lots more--
The first test of trans-Atlantic responses to cyber incidents, including cyber attacks, took place in Brussels on 3 November. Experts from the US Government joined counterparts from EU Member States to simulate how cyber security authorities on both sides of the Atlantic would cooperate in response to attacks. Two hypothetical scenarios were tested: a cyber-attack which attempts to extract and publish online sensitive information from the EU's national cyber security agencies, and an attack on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in EU power generation equipment. Click headline to read full press release--
It’s great to hear that more schools looking at integrating technology – especially after hearing how successful technology planning has gone in and around Itasca. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of listening to School superintendents Matt Grose and Mark Adams from the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative and Paul Thon from Cisco will talk about the work they’re doing to bring technology to Itasca County schools and the communities in which they reside. (You can access the archive online.) It was interesting to hear about how much planning goes into something like a technology collaborative. They were planning for something like 14 months before technology implementation. Click headline to read more--
The House subcommittee on communications and technology discussed updating a bill prohibiting mobile telemarketing, to allow businesses to make robo-calls to mobile phones in certain cases. In his opening statement at the hearing Friday morning, subcommittee chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said that the bill needed to evolve with current technology. Under the current law, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, businesses are not allowed to use automatic dialing equipment and prerecorded messages for calls to wireless phones. Walden argued in his statement that the rapid spread of wireless use and falling cellular telephone bills since the original law’s passage twenty years ago have changed the wireless landscape so much that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is now too prohibitive. Click headline to read more--
Google has already stated that the company plans to deliver 1 Gbps fiber connections to users in both Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. While Google hasn't specifically stated pricing, it's expected the service will cost local residents somewhere around $50, with the first customers coming online during the first half of 2012. Now according to the Wall Street Journal, Google may also be planning a television service that they'll offer those customers: Click headline to read more--
Farmers and ranchers across the nation use co-ops to process and market their crops and livestock and to provide them with essential production supplies and services. Electric and telecommunications utility cooperatives supply rural America with a reliable, affordable source of energy and communications technology, including phone and Internet services. In the Upper Great Plains, there are many successful models of economic development, and the most prominent, particularly in rural areas, are our Cooperatives. It is important that we focus on economic development and recognize that one of the most tried-and-true examples of success is the cooperative business model. Cooperatives are often one of the largest employers in our communities. They continue to grow, diversify, and invest in new technologies to ensure that rural citizens have the same amenities as our urban counterparts. As the country looks toward an economic recovery, it is fitting that we focus special attention on cooperatives as a key source of jobs. Co-ops are playing a role as our nation strives to reduce high levels of unemployment by providing good jobs for tens of thousands of people in the farm sector alone. Click headline to read more--
Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty announced Thursday that nine Regional Entrepreneurial Accelerators will be established throughout the state to assist entrepreneurs. The accelerators will provide mentoring, education and training, strategic and technical support and assistance identifying sources of capital. Accelerators will be located in each of the nine Jobs4TN Jobs Base Camp regions to help entrepreneurs develop business plans and launch companies that have the potential to create new jobs, according to a news release. Each accelerator will become a component of the region's economic development strategy while creating a network of partnerships and mentors within the local business community, the statewide investor base, higher education, nonprofits and government. Click headline to read more--
Google is considering ditching the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out of frustration with its support for legislation that would force Internet companies to police websites that peddle pirated movies and fake Viagra. The rumblings of a defection — a potentially serious blow to one of Washington’s most powerful lobbies — come weeks after Yahoo left the Chamber in October, largely over its support of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) online piracy bill, the PROTECT IP Act. A source close to Google said the company is “frustrated” about paying dues to an organization promoting legislation that would “impose new liabilities” on Google. A second source close to the company confirmed that thinking. Click headline to read more--
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday renewed a push to curb the Federal Communications Commission’s regulatory powers and make the agency’s dealings more transparent, the latest attempt by the GOP to rein in what it calls overbearing regulation of business by the Obama administration. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) cast their legislation as a stand against job-stifling regulations and opaque processes that make it harder for telecom companies to prosper. “This is a 3 trillion-plus industry,” said Heller, who is introducing the legislation in the Senate. He told reporters during a press conference: “If we can reduce some of the barriers of entry and make the FCC more friendly and responsive … then ultimately, the taxpayers will be better off.” Click headline to read more--
I was involved and did some extensive work on municipal broadband strategies for the last few years. A part of my work was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Telecommunications Policy with the general theme ‘Public Support for the Deployment of Next Generation Access Networks: Why, when how‘. Perhaps it’s not that important but since this is my first publication in the Journal, a top journal in the field, I am just a little excited about it! The paper discusses what influences the business strategies of municipalities in their efforts to promote broadband in their communities. This paper takes a holistic view of municipal broadband in Europe, aiming to understand the factors that determine municipal strategies in fixed Next-Generation Access (NGA) networks and the implications of municipal broadband to regulation and markets. Four factors are identified: 1) the level of local demand for broadband services, 2) how the private sector see broadband infrastructure as a business prospect, 3) the diversification plans of public utilities and 4) the European and national plans about public funding and regulation. Click headline to read more--
There’s something happening here. What it is, is perfectly clear: the smart grid is creating jobs in Silicon Valley and across the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a report just released by the Silicon Valley Smart Grid Task Force, which EDF oversaw as an advisory council member. A well-respected research firm, Collaborative Economics, asked local businesses about their jobs in the smart grid sector. The results are early since the smart grid is still mostly in the planning stage but indications suggest it’s a job-engine that California can rely on. The report divides the industry into four sectors: --power management and energy efficiency, --energy storage, --local clean energy (distributed generation such as rooftop solar, small wind turbines, plus equipment manufacturing and installation), and the --delivery of electricity (transmission and distribution). Click headline to read more--
In a bid to attract foreign investment into broadband development in the country, the Federal Government has said it will open its doors to the international investing community through the adoption of what it termed the “open access model” of broadband infrastructure development. Speaking at a special lunch organised by the Nigerian delegation to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) World 2011 held in Geneva, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of Nigeria's telecoms sector regulatory body, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the adoption of this model is to forestall current challenges posed by some operational issues and the complexities arising from roles of different agencies, including urban and regional administrative setups which impinge on the right of way of facility deployments. Click headline to read more--
|
