Mobile infrastructure must catch up with user needs and demands. Ubiquitous mobile computing is all around us. Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. As the power and capability of many mobile devices increases, the increased demand on networks. We watch more videos, and listen to music on our phones. Mobile Data Traffic To Grow 300% Globally By 2017 Led By Video, Web Use. Mobile network operators would have had an easier life if it wasn’t for smartphones and the flood of data traffic they initiated, and soon there will be also very many Internet of Things devices. Businesses and consumers want more bandwidth for less money.
More and more network bandwidth is being used by video: Netflix And YouTube Account For Over 50% Of Peak Fixed Network Data In North America. Netflix remains the biggest pig in the broadband python, representing 31.6% of all downstream Internet traffic in North America during primetime. In other parts of the world, YouTube is the biggest consumer of bandwidth. In Europe, YouTube represented of 28.7% of downstream traffic.
Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2014 expects that Software Defined Anything is a new mega-trend in data centers. Software-defined anything (SDx) is defined by “improved standards for infrastructure programmability and data center interoperability driven by automation inherent to cloud computing, DevOps and fast infrastructure provisioning.” Dominant vendors in a given sector of an infrastructure-type may elect not to follow standards that increase competition and lower margins, but end-customer will benefit from simplicity, cost reduction opportunities, and the possibility for consolidation. More hype around Software-Defined-Everything will keep the marketeers and the marchitecture specialists well employed for the next twelve months but don’t expect anything radical.
Software defined technologies are coming quickly to telecom operator networks with Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Intel and rather a lot of telcos want networks to operate like data centres. Today’s networks are mostly based around proprietary boxes designed to do very specific jobs. It used to be that way in the server business too until cheap generic x86 boxes took most of the market. The idea in NFV is that low-cost x86 servers can successfully many of those those pricey proprietary boxes currently attached to base-stations and other parts of the network. This scents a shift in the mood of the telcos themselves. This change is one that they want, and rather a lot of them are working together to make it happen. So the future mobile network will have more and more x86 and ARM based generic computing boxes running on Linux.
With the introduction of Network Functions Virtualisation base stations will have new functions built into them. For example NSN has announced a mobile edge computing platform that enables mobile base stations to host data and run apps. Think of this as an internet cloud server that’s really close to the customer.
Hybrid Cloud and IT as Service Broker are talked about. Telecom companies and cloud service providers are selling together service packages that have both connectivity and cloud storage sold as single service. Gartner suggests that bringing together personal clouds and external private cloud services is essential.
The type of device one has will be less important, as the personal or public cloud takes over some of the role. The push for more personal cloud technologies will lead to a shift toward services and away from devices, but there are also cases where where there is a great incentive to exploit the intelligence and storage of the client device. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable, although many would like to see this working.
“Internet of Things” gets more push. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The concept of “Internet of Things” will evolve a step toward The Internet of Everything. Gartner identifies four basic usage models that are emerging: Manage, Monetize, Operate, Extend. The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. The Industrial Internet of Things will be talked about. IoT takes advantage of mobile devices’ and sensors’ ability to observe and monitor their environments
Car of the future is M2M-ready and has Ethernet. Many manufacturers taking an additional step to develop vehicle connectivity. One such example is the European Commission’s emergency eCall system, which is on target for installation in every new car by 2015.
Smart Home Systems Are on the Rise article tells that most automated technology is found in commercial buildings that feature automated lighting that changes in intensity depending on the amount of sunlight present. Some of these buildings have WiFi incorporated into their lighting systems. There will be new and affordable technology on the market, but people today are still reluctant to bring automation to their homes.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth Smart environmental sensors run for three years off a single coin cell
http://www.microwave-eetimes.com/en/bluetooth-smart-environmental-sensors-run-for-three-years-off-a-single-coin-cell.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222904923&vID=8
Employing Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 SoCs, ‘Motes’ developed by Canadian startup Wimoto can measure various physical parameters (typically in combination) including temperature, soil moisture, humidity, ambient light, movement, proximity, water leaks, and temperature (contact and non-contact), which can all be monitored remotely from a Bluetooth Smart Ready smartphone, tablet, or computer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Application note addresses copper-clad aluminum cable from testing perspective
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/fluke-cca-note.html
An application note recently published by Fluke Networks discusses the challenges industry professionals currently face regarding copper-clad aluminum (CCA) cable. Addressing concerns in the United States and in Europe, the application note quotes CCCA executive director Frank Peri as well as Fibreoptic Industry Association (FIA) technical director Mike Gilmore, who address U.S. and European challenges, respectively.
“It’s not difficult to find these [CCA] products on the Internet through wholesalers and distributors,” Peri is quoted as saying.
Gilmore added that in Europe, “The cables are generally sold through the electrical wholesaler market rather than the data market, so I only see them after a problem has been identified. Electrical contractors are now an obvious supplier for small data cabling tasks and they are very cost-driven. The wholesalers know this and react accordingly. On many occasions the install Is not tested using ‘industry standard’ test equipment, so the problems are not found out until too late.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
10G Wi-Fi chipset to drive ‘massive MIMO’
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/quantenna-10g-wifi.html
Quantenna Communications announced that it is developing what it claims is “the world’s first 10G Wi-Fi chipset,” designed to drive a new generation of wireless access points in homes, enterprises and public spaces. With an architecture enabling MIMO configurations up to an unprecedented 8×8, speeds up to 10 Gbps and universal support for MU-MIMO clients, Quantenna contends that its new 10G Wi-Fi chipset will deliver unparalleled wireless performance, range and stability.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Surge protectors shield signal, data lines from multiple destructive currents
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/bourns-surge-protectors.html
Bourns (Riverside, CA) has introduced a new surge protective device (SPD) optimized for signal and data line applications. Designated Bourns Model 1840, the new device is a heavy-duty, multi-stage protector (MSP) designed to safeguard sensitive electronic circuits and components from damaging surge voltages and currents.
The Bourns Model 1840 supports working voltages of 5, 12 and 24 volts, and may be used directly with RS-232, RS-422, RS-423 and RS-485 standard EIA interfaces as well as with 4-20 mA and 50 mA instrumentation loops.
According to Bourns, the new solid-state, third stage protection device works by intercepting the leading edge of a surge within a sub-nanosecond response time. Within micro-seconds thereafter, a primary stage, three-electrode common-chambered Gas Discharge Tube (GDT) activates and crowbars the majority of the surge energy to ground. The new model also utilizes Bourns TBU High-Speed Protector (HSP) technology as a key second stage.
Currents exceeding 300 mA through the protector will cause the TBU HSP to quickly transition into high impedance, isolating any harmful voltages and/or currents from damaging the protected equipment. The GDT protector remains in the crowbar state until the surge has passed and line voltages return to safe levels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix pays Verizon for network connection to speed up video
Netflix confirms deal that’s similar to agreement with Comcast.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/netflix-and-verizon-reach-interconnection-deal-to-speed-up-video/
Netflix today confirmed that it reached an interconnection agreement with Verizon, similar to the one it recently struck with Comcast.
“We have reached an interconnect arrangement with Verizon that we hope will improve performance for our joint customers over the coming months,” Netflix spokesperson Joris Evers told Ars. “It is a paid interconnect agreement.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
To Compete With Google, Microsoft Makes Skype Group Chats Free
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/skype-free/
On Monday, the tech giant announced that it will offer free group video calls on Skype, its popular internet communications service. Previously, such calls were reserved for customers who paid for premium Skype accounts.
The move is yet another example of Microsoft forgoing immediate revenues in an effort to better compete in the modern world, where so many basic software tools and services are free, subsidized by online advertising or the sale of more specialized tools. In this case, Google has long offered free group video calls through its Hangouts service — part of the Google+ social network — and now, Microsoft is following suit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prototyping peer-to-peer applications for the industrial Internet of things
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/prototyping-peer-to-peer-applications-for-the-industrial-internet-of-things/73ec533ccc5868e71d7af61241f41dca.html
Programming peer-to-peer (machine-to-machine) architecture is challenging for the broad application space of the industrial Internet of things. A unified programming environment provides an intuitive method for publishing and subscribing to data of interest over the network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
More industrial Ethernet spending, more productivity
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/more-industrial-ethernet-spending-more-productivity/142ab1e8bf4dff4a190e79ac345314b1.html
Control Engineering research on industrial Ethernet shows that half of respondents expect to spend more and be more productive in the next 12 months. Ethernet is highly integrated with controls, automation, and instrumentation, according to 40% of respondents. See more Ethernet research details.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Voice-babble-over-Wi-Fi lands in Europe – take that, mobe masties
Cheap call rates for hotspot-smothered streets
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/29/wi_fi_voice_telco_trial/
The Netherlands is about to become a test-bed for Wi-Fi-first and Wi-Fi-only telephony services, as both Ziggo and UPC offer free downloadable apps to use a growing number of Wi-Fi spots for voice calls.
The two cable companies do not overlap in any way, and the two networks will give an almost contiguous Wi-Fi network over the entire country. You may ask why anyone needs a cellular network in a country like the Netherlands, which is so well covered in Wi-Fi, once you include home gateway access. That must be a problem perplexing KPN right now.
Poor voice quality? You WISH
The Ziggo Bapp App even works when you are abroad as long as you can find Wi-Fi access, so you can make local calls to the Netherlands for almost nothing from your cellphone or tablet.
Cellular technologists always point out that Wi-Fi voice is poor and that WiFi has no quality of service. Of course this is not actually true, Wi-Fi has about four levels of QoS that can be invoked, including one for real time services like voice. But Wi-Fi can have connection problems that make voice weak and unpredictable under constrained conditions.
Ziggo points out that Bapp uses an encryption service which is not universal for some of the new social media apps out there, so that no one can intercept your phone messages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
To Save the Internet We Need To Own The Means Of Distribution
http://www.ilsr.org/save-internet-means-distribution-2/
With the announcement by the FCC that cable and telephone companies will be allowed to prioritize access to their customers only one option remains that can guarantee an open internet: owning the means of distribution.
Thankfully an agency exists for this. Local government. Owning the means of distribution is a traditional function of local government. We call our roads and bridges and water and sewer pipe networks public infrastructure for a reason.
Today almost 90 communities have citywide fiber networks. Another 74 have citywide cable networks. Scores more have partial fiber networks that serve public institutions—local government, libraries, schools, networks—and could easily be extended. See here for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s comprehensive map of muni networks in the United States.
More than 3 million people currently live in communities with a publicly owned communications network.
Unlike the FCC, cities that own their telecommunications networks can, and undoubtedly will respond to the will of their citizens by embracing the principle of net neutrality.
Publicly owned telecommunications networks offer lower prices and higher speeds than Comcast and AT&T and Time Warner. It is instructive that the first gigabit network was built not by a private company but by Chattanooga, a muni network. Today 40 cities in 13 states have locally owned gigabit networks.
Cities that have built their own networks have found them a singularly successful economic development investment, especially for retaining and attracting the growing numbers of businesses that require high speed, high capacity networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T plans in-flight internet move using its US 4G network
Honeywell hardware will turn aircraft into internet nodes
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/29/att_plans_move_on_inflight_internet_using_its_us_4g_network/
AT&T has one of the largest LTE networks in the US, and it has now signed an agreement with Honeywell to use the cellular grid to bring faster in-flight internet to air passengers.
“Everyone wants access to high-speed, reliable mobile Internet wherever they are, including at 35,000 feet,” said John Stankey, chief strategy officer at AT&T. “We believe this will enable airlines and passengers to benefit from reliable high speeds and a better experience. We expect this service to transform connectivity in the aviation industry – we are truly mobilizing the sky.”
In-flight internet is nothing new – Gogo has been beaming data back and forth between aircraft in the US for six years now from a network of around 300 cellular towers dotted across the US. But AT&T has many, many more cell towers than that, and the company reckons it can offer a faster and more reliable connection than its chief airline rival.
“This technology should allow for voice calls as well as data, but that’s up to the airlines,” Jacobs said. “It’s not a technology challenge at this point, but a policy challenge.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
ITU says IT industry must become ‘resilient’ in face of climate change
Your data centre needs a levee and comms should go wireless, say UN techies
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/30/itu_says_it_industry_must_become_resilient_in_face_of_climate_change/
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency responsible for information and communication technologies, has declared the information and communications technologies industries must “design and implement strategies for the sector to better prepare for, respond and adjust to the impacts of short- and long-term climatic manifestations.”
In a new report titled “Resilient pathways: the adaptation of the ICT sector to climate change” ((PDF), the ITU hedges on the causes of warming but says it is happening and has the potential to cause the following unpleasant outcomes for the ICT industries:
Accelerate the degradation of physical assets and ICT infrastructure,
Affect the supply of materials, interrupt transport and logistics,
Disrupt the availability and reliability of ICT services,
Increase operational business costs across the sector, reduce revenue, and challenge the sector’s ability to conduct repairs and recover from the effects of climatic events, among other direct and indirect impacts.
Other recommendations suggest building more redundancy into everything.
The report says climate change is also an opportunity for our sector
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth Smart: What’s in a Name?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322145&
Lately, I notice, the world is overrun with smart products and smart technologies. Smartphones, smart TV, smart cards, smart homes, the smart grid, smartwatches, the Smart car, smart buildings — you name it. It’s hard to think of a new big thing that doesn’t call itself smart. Now, the smart trend has crept into a technology standard: Bluetooth Smart.
Now, what about calling Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) “Bluetooth Smart?” Look closely and all you see is branding.
Again, I have nothing against Bluetooth’s marketing machine wanting to rebrand Bluetooth Low Energy as Bluetooth Smart. It’s probably a smart move — as far as marketing is concerned.
But here’s the thing. I’m a reporter trained to write for the engineering crowd. In my mind, Bluetooth Low Energy conveys much more clarity. It describes what the thing actually does.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things gets its own NAS
Synology emits a rugged, palm-sized unit that slurps power over Ethernet
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/01/the_internet_of_things_gets_its_own_nas/
Some of the many, many, nodes promised to connect to the internet of things are going to do two things: make a lot of data but not always be able to send it anywhere.
How to store that data in the often-inhospitable locations sensors and small computers will find themselves seems to have exercised some minds at Taiwanese vendor Synology, which has just created a small, rugged network attached storage device in the form of the new Embedded DataStation EDS14.
The NAS is an odd one as it can hold no spinning rust or solid state disks. It does, however, boast a single SD card slot, two gigabit ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port. The USB 3.0 port is intended to connect to a disk. The USB 2.0 slot is said to be 3G compatible, meaning this NAS can probably fire up a connection to the outside world as and when needed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’ve heard of the internet, right? Well this here might just be the INTERCLOUD
Now you can have a server in every port
By Jack Clark, 30 Apr 2014
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/30/equinix_cloud_exchange/
Equinix has removed one of the most intractable stumbling blocks in cloud computing’s evolution from a high-price, differentiated market into one of low-cost utilities – by making it trivial for customers to suck data out of one provider and pour it into another.
The colocation provider announced its Cloud Exchange service on Wednesday. In so doing, it brought the cloud market one step closer to behaving more like a utility such as electricity by reducing the cost of switching data and compute between providers.
Cloud Exchange uses Equinix’s globe-spanning fleet of data centers, combined with the huge presence of edge equipment of major cloud providers in its facilities, to gin up a system for giving customers the option of connecting up with clouds from Amazon and Microsoft through dedicated 1Gb or 10Gb connections.
“Equinix provides a Cloud Exchange Portal and APIs that simplify the process of managing connections to multiple cloud services,” the company explained in a press release. “Customers can use the portal and APIs to allocate, monitor and modify virtual circuits in near real-time with the provisioning of those circuits automated end-to-end from the Cloud Exchange to the service provider.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canucks’ ISPs routing data through snoop heaven USA
Does your ISP use a ‘Boomerang route’ to fling data into the NSA’s lap?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/01/transparency_researchers_say_canadas_isps_are_too_opaque/
A University of Toronto-led transparency project has criticised Canada’s ISPs for unnecessarily routing user traffic via the US, even when both the origin and destination of the traffic is within Canada.
In a study that mirrors, in part, European concerns about why traffic should traverse the US when it doesn’t need to, the Canadian transparency study blames an unwillingness to peer for sending traffic into the reach of the NSA.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Airchat, The Wireless Mesh Network From Lulzlabs
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/01/airchat-the-wireless-mesh-network-from-lulzlabs/
With the lessons learned from the Egyptian, Libyan, and Syrian revolutions, a few hardware and software hackers over at Lulzlabs have taken it upon themselves to create a free-as-in-beer and free-as-in-speech digital communications protocol that doesn’t deal with expensive, highly-surveilled commercial and government controlled infrastructure. They call it Airchat, and it’s an impressive piece of work if you don’t care about silly things like ‘laws’.
Airchat uses an off the shelf amateur transmitter, a Yaesu 897D
although a $30 Chinese handheld radio will do, to create a mesh network between other Airchat users running the same software.
Airchat has already been used to play chess with people 180 miles away, controlled a 3D printer over 80 miles, and has been used to share pictures and voice chats.
lulzlabs/AirChat
https://github.com/lulzlabs/AirChat
Airchat is a free communication tool, free as in ‘free beer’ and free as in ‘Jeremy Hammond must be freed’. It doesn’t need the internet infrastructure, nor does it need a cellphone network, instead it relies on any available radio link (or any device capable of transmitting audio – we even made a prototype working with light/laser based transmissions).
AirChat is not only our modest draft or proposal for such a dream, but it is a working PoC you can use today.
Radio transceivers. Yeah, these shits rock. We chose to sacrifice bandwidth for freedom. Tune the frequency. Define a protocol. Transmit. Enjoy.
So yeah we connected our 897Ds to our computers, we shouted out to our bros to tune in and then we started playing around.
Initially AirChat used code from minimodem and then from soundmodem sources but after suggestions from the ham radio people involved in ARES, we decided to make it modular to use the Fldigi software, a broadly deployed solution for use with ham radios.
We ended up with a simple protocol packet: the Lulzpacket. This simple packet contains information to verify there was no corruption during the transmission and a random code to pseudo-identify the packet. We define the addresses of nodes in the net by their ability to decrypt a given packet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Broadband, Net Neutrality and airplane boarding: industries’ love affair with stupid
http://boingboing.net/2014/05/01/broadband-net-neutrality-and.html
As you probably know, we board airplanes in just about the worst, most inefficient way possible
The airlines know this, but stupid boarding remains the order of the day. That’s because stupid boarding involves charging rich people more to skip the stupid
The thing is, this isn’t just stupid, it actually costs the airlines a ton of money
Much more than they make from charging special skip-the-stupid/eat-warm-nuts fees.
this kind of stupid is a perfect microcosm of the terrible behavior we’re likely to see as a result of the US FCC abolishing Net Neutrality
Broadband providers insist they need to do things like prioritize some traffic in order to deal with network congestion, but that’s bogus. It’s only the non-technical management who makes those claims. Ask the technology guys, and they will quickly say that basic upgrades can easily accommodate all traffic. But the broadband providers are now like the airlines. They could very easily offer a better overall service, but they’re quickly recognizing that by offering a crappy service, they can charge more to get a select few to pay up for a “fast lane” approach.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Inefficient Airline Boarding Procedures Have To Do With Net Neutrality
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140430/00090727072/what-inefficient-airline-boarding-procedures-have-to-do-with-net-neutrality.shtml
In the broadband space, it’s even worse, because there’s even less competition, so there are even fewer incentives for the broadband providers to actually do the necessary upgrades. Instead, they have all the incentive in the world to make their broadband connections purposely inefficient, to pressure people into paying more. Is it really any wonder that Netflix streaming quality was so terrible until Netflix suddenly agreed to start paying up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BYOD was only a small change – the Internet of Things is revolutionizing the information security issues
When the Internet of Things (IOT ) increases, more and more devices connect to network and someone had to take care of data security. So it is no wonder that research firm Gartner paints Internet of Things, the revolutionary computer security industry.
Estimation of number of devices joined the network in 2020 range from 26 billion units (according to Gartner) to shattering 212 billion devices (according to IDC).
” We are only at an early stage of revolution in information security”
Much of the things the Internet -forming device is intended for one particular function, and they use their own communication protocols. Often, the control or operating system is quite closed and, therefore, the IT department may not be opportunities to influence the security of these devices , for example, by adding your own level of security on the system.
It may not be feasible at all to add individual security level in the equipment.
“The market is going to be a slew of different types of security providers”
BYOD forced the IT department to think about things again, IoT forces companies to think about their behavior again, and this time change is much bigger.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/cio/byod+oli+vasta+pieni+muutos++asioiden+internet+mullistaa+tietoturvan/a985470
Tomi Engdahl says:
Most of what we need for smart cities already exists
Culture, play, and an emphasis on fair use will help smart cities take root.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/05/most-of-what-we-need-for-smart-cities-already-exists.html
The compelling thing about the emerging Internet of Things, says technologist Tom Armitage, is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel — or the water and sewage systems, or the electrical and transportation grids. To a large degree, you can create massive connectivity by simple (well, relatively simple) augmentation.
“By overlaying existing infrastructure with intelligent software and sensors, you can turn it into something else and connect it to a larger system,” says Armitage. “Yes, you could simply design and construct an entirely new system, but that’s incredibly expensive, it would take a lot time, and you may lose some things (of cultural or architectural value) that you may want to save. It’s better to adapt existing systems to your goals if you have the technology to do it — and we have it.”
The compelling thing about the emerging Internet of Things, says technologist Tom Armitage, is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel — or the water and sewage systems, or the electrical and transportation grids. To a large degree, you can create massive connectivity by simple (well, relatively simple) augmentation.
“By overlaying existing infrastructure with intelligent software and sensors, you can turn it into something else and connect it to a larger system,” says Armitage. “Yes, you could simply design and construct an entirely new system, but that’s incredibly expensive, it would take a lot time, and you may lose some things (of cultural or architectural value) that you may want to save. It’s better to adapt existing systems to your goals if you have the technology to do it — and we have it.”
The compelling thing about the emerging Internet of Things, says technologist Tom Armitage, is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel — or the water and sewage systems, or the electrical and transportation grids. To a large degree, you can create massive connectivity by simple (well, relatively simple) augmentation.
“By overlaying existing infrastructure with intelligent software and sensors, you can turn it into something else and connect it to a larger system,” says Armitage. “Yes, you could simply design and construct an entirely new system, but that’s incredibly expensive, it would take a lot time, and you may lose some things (of cultural or architectural value) that you may want to save. It’s better to adapt existing systems to your goals if you have the technology to do it — and we have it.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix brings net neutrality concerns to U.S. regulators
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/01/us-usa-internet-netflix-fcc-idUSBREA4010H20140501
After weeks of public outcry, Netflix Inc brought its concerns about Internet neutrality directly to U.S. regulators this week in meetings with Federal Communications Commission staff, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The video streaming company has been outspoken in its push to do away with fees that content companies pay Internet service providers to deliver their video and other data to consumers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
White House seeks legal immunity for firms that hand over customer data
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/white-house-legal-immunity-telecoms-firms-bill
Obama administration asks legislators drafting NSA reforms to protect telecoms firms complying with court orders
The White House has asked legislators crafting competing reforms of the National Security Agency to provide legal immunity for telecommunications firms that provide the government with customer data, the Guardian has learned.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Listening To A Swarm Of Satellites In Orbit
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/04/listening-to-a-swarm-of-satellites-in-orbit/
A few months ago, we heard of a Kickstarter with an amazing goal: give everyone with $300 burning a hole in their pocket their very own satellite orbiting Earth. Time passes, the mothership has been launched, and in just a few short hours, over a hundred of these personal femtosatellites will be released into low Earth orbit.
The Kicksat consists of a 3U cubesat that was recently launched aboard the SpaceX CRS-3 mission to the International Space Station. Inside this cubesat are over one hundred satellites called Sprites, loaded up with solar cells, magnetometers, a microcontroller and a radio to communicate with ground stations below.
You can check out the current location of the orbiting Kicksat mothership on the project website
Tomi Engdahl says:
Applying ATCA Hardware Platform Management to IoT Backend Systems
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103559
Hardware platform management is essential to the often Cloud-based network systems that enable the Internet of Things. The well-defined and designed ATCA management framework can be adopted by other form factors for management layer compatibility and savings across a number of different system architectures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Enabling Multi-Industry Interoperability for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103553
As the IIoT evolves and spans across multiple industries, each with their own control networking protocol standards, translation markup technologies will bridge the divide to providing access to the required information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloud-Based Remote Management Has High Impact on System Reliability
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103560
Secure, Cloud-based management agents are coming of age for the spectrum of embedded applications, enabling remote, centralized access to system data and dramatically reducing maintenance and management costs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Platform Architecture for the Internet of Things
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103577
The Internet of Things is mostly things—things with microprocessors and operating systems. This means many millions of possible security points that need to be guarded against hackers as much or even more than the large server farms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
As Netflix Resists, Most Firms Just Try to Befriend Comcast
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/business/media/as-netflix-resists-most-firms-just-try-to-befriend-comcast.html
In the middle of an otherwise routine earnings report last week, Netflix took an unexpected detour into the realm of antitrust enforcement: It opposed Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable, it said, because the deal would create a powerful giant with “anticompetitive leverage.”
The statement certainly grabbed the attention of the entertainment and communications industries. What it did not do was rally many others to the fight. Netflix stormed the hill, only to look back and find that almost no one was following it.
The $45 billion merger would transform Comcast into a vastly more powerful gatekeeper, giving it control of 40 percent of the country’s Internet service coverage and 19 of the country’s top 20 cable markets. As such, it could potentially disrupt the entire media and technology ecosystem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HALF of London has outdated Wi-Fi security, says roving World of War, er, BIKER
And a third simply don’t bother with secured networks at all
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/05/london_warbiking_lax_security/
Wireless security across London remains flaky despite the well-known risks, according to an infosec bod who has been riding his bike all around town identifying insecure wireless networks and highlighting shoddy user behaviours that could be exploited by rogue hackers.
James Lyne, global head of security research at Sophos, went “warbiking” across the streets of the British capital over the course of two days.
Lyne used a little Raspberry Pi Linux computer in the bag slung under the crossbar, a powerful battery under the seat to provide power for the scanning rig for a whole day, a small GPS unit, small scanners wired into a little Raspberry Pi, and a scanner aerial strapped to the downtube.
Lyne’s exercise revealed that among the more than 81,000 networks surveyed, some 29.5 per cent were using either the insecure Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm, or no security encryption at all.
A further 52 per cent of networks were using Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), a security algorithm that is past its sell-by date and can no longer be trusted as secure, he said.
“Our experiment found a disturbingly large number of people willing to connect to an open wireless network we created, without any idea of who owned it or whether it was trustworthy”
“Incredibly, conventional wireless network security is still a major concern, despite the security industry assuming such issues had been resolved years ago,”
“Even within the security industry there are myths and misunderstanding about what the real risks are with wireless.”
” Unfortunately the standard user doesn’t recognise that major brand XYZ wireless is not encrypted and that their information can be picked up by anyone with a £30 piece of equipment available on Amazon,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla offers FCC a net neutrality plan—with a twist
Petition: FCC should treat access to Internet users as a common carrier service.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/mozilla-offers-fcc-a-net-neutrality-plan-with-a-twist/
The Mozilla Foundation today is filing a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to declare that ISPs are common carriers, but there’s a twist.
The FCC doesn’t have to reclassify the Internet access ISPs offer consumers as a telecommunications service subject to common carrier regulations under Title II of the Communications Act, Mozilla says. Instead, the FCC should target the service ISPs offer to edge providers like Netflix and Dropbox, who need to send their bits over ISP networks to reach their customers.
The petition was written by Mozilla Senior Policy Engineer Chris Riley and Public Policy Lead Alex Fowler. Riley, who formerly worked as an attorney-advisor at the FCC in 2007 and 2008, told Ars that he’s concerned FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s latest net neutrality proposal won’t withstand court scrutiny.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla asks FCC to unleash the nuclear option on net neutrality
Wants internet services placed under Title II to ensure equality of access for all
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/05/mozilla_asks_fcc_to_take_the_nuclear_option_on_net_neutrality/
Mozilla has filed a formal request to the US Federal Communications Commission asking it to reclassify internet-provision and content-provider’s traffic under Title II of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which would ensure the net remains neutral.
The Firefox firm’s proposal is twofold.
“Mozilla’s proposal would help ensure that the Internet continues to be an innovative and open platform, central to our individual growth and our collective future.”
The mobile carrier’s court win opened the door to throttling, and companies like Netflix have now been forced to enter into pay-for-play deals with ISPs.
The current FCC head Tom Wheeler said last month that he’s fine with this
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla’s crazy plan to fix net neutrality and turn broadband into a utility – and why it could work
http://gigaom.com/2014/05/05/mozillas-crazy-plan-to-fix-net-neutrality-and-turn-broadband-into-a-utility-and-why-it-could-work/
Mozilla thinks it has found a way to ensure true network neutrality without going back and reclassifying broadband.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Ethernet’s Present & Future
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322210&
An initial standard for 400 Gbit/second Ethernet should be finished by 2017, hopefully laying a foundation for work on a Terabit spec, said John D’Ambrosia, a veteran of many IEEE 802.3 efforts. Mega data centers, Internet exchanges and wireless and cable providers demand the faster data rates
“Terabit Ethernet got delayed but it’s on the horizon,”
Work on the 400GE standard officially starts May 12 at a meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, with this year focused on architectural proposals, he said. It will most likely begin with concepts for 16 lanes of the 25G serial links just now emerging from the lab. Ultimately it will need to cover a wide array of chip, board and short- and long-haul system links.
Engineers have started the hard work of developing 40, 50 and even 100G serial links, including a June workshop on sending 100G over a single optical wavelength, he said. Difficult as the task seems at the moment, “the most direct path to 400GE and Terabit Ethernet is getting to 100G serial links — that’s where we need to be,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
WiGig Is Coming, Test Equipment Close Behind
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322217&
WiGig, a new buzzword in the communications industry, is quickly making its way into consumer devices. Originally, WiGig represented an industry organization called the Wireless Gigabit Alliance, which became a part of the WiFi Alliance in March 2013. The WiGig specification lets devices communicate wirelessly at multi-gigabit speeds. It also enables high-performance wireless data, display, and audio applications to supplement the capabilities of previous-generation wireless LAN devices.
WiGig-enabled devices operate in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 60 GHz bands. They can deliver data transfer rates up to 7 Gbit/s while maintaining compatibility with other WiFi devices. However, WiGig is not intended as a WiFi replacement. It’s a short-range technology that can operate up to 10 m. When the first devices with the embedded WiGig chip enter the marketplace this year, the technology will make it possible to share files immediately from device to device at an impressive speed of about 1 Gbit/s.
Once WiGig devices hit mass production, there will no way to stop them. Frost & Sullivan predicts that there will be 1.2 million WiGig devices by the end of 2014 and 1.5 billion by 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Optical USB 3.0 cables have 5-Gig capacity and 30-meter reach
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/usb-3-optical.html?cmpid=EnlCIMMay52014
Corning Incorporated recently announced the availability of its USB 3.Optical Cables by Corning; the products have the capability to send 5-Gbit/sec data at distances up to 30 meters. “This cable is designed to be compatible with devices using USB 3.0 and 2.0 interfaces,” the company said when announcing its availability, adding that USB-IF has not yet developed a specification for optical-fiber transmission.
On that note, Corning added, “The USB 3.Optical Cables by Corning are up to 50 percent thinner and up to 80 percent lighter than comparable copper cables—qualities that enable convenient transport.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
50+ crowd are wolfing down tablets: Silver foxes are even migrating to the Twitters
@gramps We’ll see you at #sundaylunch
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/06/tablets_drive_older_people_to_the_web/
Ofcom showing the number of people over 65 going online as 42 per cent compared with the previous year’s 33 per cent.
The Kana figures show those aged over 65 are actually better connected than those aged 55 to 64. The older group will check for emails around every hour while the pre-retirement group will only look every four hours. Older people are also apparently more assiduous about checking voicemail and Twitter.
The Ofcom research is generally at odds with the Kana figures, showing that those aged 55 to 64 use the web more than those aged over 65.
The growth is surprising as neither Android nor iOS has done a particularly good job of targeting the grey market and social networks aimed at the field have been slow to take off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenBTS 4.0 drives commercial open-source cellular systems
http://www.microwave-eetimes.com/en/openbts-4.0-drives-commercial-open-source-cellular-systems.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222904938
Bringing cellular coverage to rural and remote areas has been a problem since the inception of the mobile phone, but open source technology is driving costs down so that most of the world, which remains unconnected today, may benefit from the cellular revolution.
By breaking the mould of proprietary, closed systems, open source will not only drive costs but boost innovation and even enable communities to initiate different business models than those currently deployed.
To this end, OpenBTS is a open source software implementation of a basestation that runs on a commodity server or servers and uses commodity IP routing equipment. All of the cellular network software runs on Linux and connects with commonly used TCP/IP and UDP/IP protocols. OpenBTS can even be run on virtualised servers in the cloud.
Recently, Range Networks, the leader of the OpenBTS software project, announced the release of OpenBTS 4.0. The software is now shipping in the company’s laboratory development kits and commercial base stations and is also available to the OpenBTS community as a free download.
OpenBTS, a software defined radio implementation of the GSM radio access network that presents normal GSM handsets as virtual SIP endpoints. In other words, through OpenBTS, any GSM handset appears as a SIP device, without the need for any special software on the phone.
Going commercial
Following several weeks of field trials, OpenBTS 4.0 is the foundation of a new, multi-node, low-cost commercial network being implemented by French carrier GlobalTel that will cover the island and city of Saint Pierre (population 7000) of the French territory St. Pierre and Miquelon, located off the coast of Newfoundland.
Christophe Boutin, CEO of GlobalTel, said: “Range Networks’ OpenBTS 4.0 and base stations have been fundamental in helping us build a cost-effective carrier network in the remote territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
Range Networks supports 2.5G today and will soon support 3G UMTS, 4G LTE (E-UTRA) and 2.75G (EDGE). Although these technologies have very different air interfaces, in their Range Networks realizations, the core network is always the same. This means that a greenfield carrier can start with a simple 2G network and over time develop a mixed 2G-3G-4G system,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Software defined mobile network targets 3.5-billion people with no mobile coverage
http://www.microwave-eetimes.com/en/software-defined-mobile-network-targets-3.5-billion-people-with-no-mobile-coverage.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222904937
While the high profile technology companies such as Google and Facebook look towards solar powered high altitude drones and hot air balloons to bring WiFi to the unconnected world, Legba and bladeRF creator Nuand have formed a partnership to expand traditional mobile networks to bring affordable mobile network access to the 3.5 billion people who currently are without any connectivity.
The problem with the hype surrounding drones and balloons is that as with all emerging technology they are not ready to be deployed and the costs have not been quantified.
Maybe the answer lies more with tried and tested technology, but at a lower cost than has been previously possible. This is essentially what Legba and Nuand are attempting.
The partnership brings together Legba’s open source software for 2.5G networks with Nuand’s software defined radio, based on Lime Microsystems’ fully programmable RF transceiver technology. This combination is designated YateBTS 3.0.
YateBTS is an all-software implementation of a complete 2.5G network. It can be used for network in a box (NIB) applications; large private networks, based on VoIP; public networks, based on an SS7 core; or mixed 2G/4G networks, based on an IMS core.
Yate (Yet Another Telephony Engine) is a next-generation telephony engine; while currently focused on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and PSTN, it can be easily extended. Voice, video, data and instant messenging can all be unified under Yate’s flexible routing engine. The software is written in C++ and it supports scripting in various programming languages (such as those supported by the currently implemented PHP, Python and Perl libraries) and even any Unix shell.
The bladeRF board has an entirely programmable FPGA and a large community of developers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Serial-Interface Memory Architectures for 100 GbE
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322233&
There are many forces at play making the development of 100GbE and 400GbE systems challenging. From the need for packet processing to 100GbE line rates and the move to IPv6, the traditional memory approaches in networking are being squeezed.
The emergence of 100 Gbps line rates plus the transition to IPv6 requires next-generation equipment that delivers many times the bandwidth in the same form factor.
In order to handle the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of network addresses is going to expand dramatically. IPv6 enables this with its 128 bit long address field. There is also a shift towards software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) in order to make deployment of generic hardware more flexible, fungible, and efficient. In this environment, the basic tasks of network address lookup, flow statistics, and atomic thread management become throttled by memory bandwidth such that embedded and standalone CPUs cannot keep up with network traffic demands.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Transit Provider Claims ISPs Deliberately Allow Port Congestion:
Level 3 claims six ISPs dropping packets every day over money disputes
Network provider doesn’t name and shame ISPs guilty of “permanent congestion.”
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/05/level-3-claims-six-isps-dropping-packets-every-day-over-money-disputes/
Network operator Level 3, which has asked the FCC to protect it from “arbitrary access charges” that ISPs want in exchange for accepting Internet traffic, today claimed that six consumer broadband providers have allowed a state of “permanent congestion” by refusing to upgrade peering connections for the past year.
Level 3 and Cogent, another network operator, have been involved in disputes with ISPs over whether they should pay for the right to send them traffic. ISPs have demanded payment in exchange for accepting streaming video and other data that is passed from the network providers to ISPs and eventually to consumers.
When the interconnections aren’t upgraded, it can lead to congestion and dropped packets, as we wrote previously regarding a dispute between Cogent and Verizon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Observations of an Internet Middleman
http://blog.level3.com/global-connectivity/observations-internet-middleman/
The Level 3 Internet Service consists of more than 10,000 Ethernet connections – getting bigger every month. The original invested capital in the Level 3 network was approximately $40 billion.
Level 3 uses that network to sell Internet Services to tens of thousands of customers all around the world. But, despite the huge amount of infrastructure that we built and contribute, we are only one part of the global Internet. When we sell Internet Services, we have to make available every single route on the Internet to our customers – not just the routes we ourselves own. That means we have to provide access to all of the networks owned and operated by others, which right now means about 46,000 other networks – some of which also make use of Level 3’s fiber and bandwidth services.
While Level 3 has tens of thousands of customers, it only has 51 peers[1]. That total set of interconnections enables our customers to “see” the whole Internet.
Much has been made of peering agreements. Many peering agreements were made between engineers in the early days of the Internet and consisted of not much more than a single page of text – if there was anything written down at all
Level 3 has 51 peers that are interconnected in 45 cities through over 1,360 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports (plus a few smaller ports). The distribution of that capacity with individual peers ranges from a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet port to 148 ports. The average number of interconnection cities per peer is five, but ranges from one to 20.
The average utilization across all those interconnected ports is 36 percent.
A port that is on average utilised at 90 percent will be saturated, dropping packets, for several hours a day. We have congested ports saturated to those levels with 12 of our 51 peers.
Five of those congested peers are in the United States and one is in Europe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet transit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_transit
Internet transit is the service of allowing network traffic to cross or “transit” a computer network, usually used to connect a smaller Internet service provider (ISP) to the larger Internet. Technically, it consists of two bundled services:
The advertisement of customer routes to other ISPs, thereby soliciting inbound traffic toward the customer from them
The advertisement of others ISPs routes (usually but not necessarily in the form of a default route or a full set of routes to all of the destinations on the Internet) to the ISP’s customer, thereby soliciting outbound traffic from the customer towards these networks.
Illustration of Internet transit
In the 1970s and early 1980s-era Internet, the assumption was made that all networks would provide full transit for one another. In the modern private-sector Internet, two forms of interconnect agreements exist between Internet networks: transit, and peering.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The “Internet of Things” Challenge
http://blog.level3.com/global-connectivity/internet-things-challenge/
As it has been forecasted, in 2015 there will be 25 billion devices connected to the web and a total of 50 billion in 2020. This increase will be the result of connecting “things” to the Internet. We are now going through the last thresholds to a new Internet: the Internet of Things (IoT).
Internet of Things includes the connection of any device and will have an effect on our society in all respects. These are some examples:
In the field of logistics and transportation, we can expect that the IoT will bring about changes through the intelligent movement of cargo through the continuous synchronization of information in delivery chains, allowing intelligent communication between people and cargo. We will be able to spot and identify each piece of merchandise anywhere in the world, improving the flow of objects.
In the retail segment, the IoT will transform the way people compare product prices or features, therefore changing the current purchase standards. Companies will also benefit from getting additional user information to improve their businesses and increase their customers’ satisfaction.
In the health field, the main objectives will be control and prevention. Imagine patients with devices connected to the IoT constantly monitoring their vital signs and think of the possibility of locating them anywhere around the globe. It will help not only the patients, but also the specialists who will be able to access all information in a patient’s clinical history.
We will be able to count on intelligent houses and cities capable of measuring water and electric power use, improving safety and comfort. Intelligent cities may generate sustainable development models and greatly improve the quality of life.
Finally, the environment will benefit the most, since it will be easier, in all respects, to save energy.
Cloud computing and physical communications networks will be the essential components not only to support the information that will generate a great number of devices connected to the web, but also to provide the resources necessary for a new generation of intelligent applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Data center security buyers may switch vendors for better performance
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/infonetics-datacenter-security-survey.html
According to Infonetics, 77% percent of survey respondents said they need need security solutions with increased session handling performance, while about 70% need products with throughput and interfaces to match new high-speed networks i.e. those with 40G and 100G interfaces and 200G+ throughput.
“The most significant transformation affecting enterprise data centers today is the adoption of server virtualization technology,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst: Network port revenues hit $39B; 40G booming in data center; 100G gains in core
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/infonetics-networking-ports.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC commissioner says FCC “invented” new authority to regulate Internet
Netflix and Google should be worried about FCC overreach, O’Rielly writes.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/fcc-commissioner-says-fcc-invented-new-authority-to-regulate-internet/
The FCC’s Michael O’Rielly, one of two Republican commissioners since being sworn into office last November, today warned against the commission using what he called “newly invented authority to regulate the Internet.”
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has declined to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, which would open Internet Service providers up to the same type of common carriage rules that apply to the country’s phone system.
At its May 15 meeting, the five-member commission will consider Wheeler’s proposal to use Section 706 authority to impose a new anti-blocking rule while allowing ISPs to charge edge providers “commercially reasonable” rates for a faster path to consumers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Google Plans To Work With Telcos On Project Loon
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/06/how-google-plans-to-work-with-telcos-on-project-loon/
During his appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt NY today, Google’s “Captain of Moonshots” Astro Teller briefly talked about Project Loon, the Google X project that uses stratospheric balloons to bring Internet to underserved areas. One thing that has long been unclear about Project Loon is how it would use licensed or unlicensed spectrum and how Google would acquire it.
Turns out that before announcing the project last year, the team was actually hoping to buy harmonized spectrum itself, but it’s now planning to work with existing telcos and to use their spectrum instead.
Loon now uses the spectrum that already exists in a given country.
So when a Loon balloon is over a given country, the telcos will be able to lease the balloons while they pass over. As a result, Google doesn’t have to license the spectrum because the telcos already own it. That way, the telcos won’t feel as if Google is trying to steal their users. Also, because these large corporations own far bigger wedges of spectrum than Google could have licensed, the project is able to offer users way more bandwidth than they otherwise would have.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slow IPv6 adoption is a GOOD THING as IETF plans privacy boost
New ‘SLAAC’ RFC aims to do a better job of hiding hosts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/07/rfc_offers_better_privacy_for_ipv6_hosts/
The glacial pace of the worldwide IPv6 rollout might cause hand-wringing among ‘net boffins, but at least it’s leaving time for engineers to pry around for possible problems before the whole world’s on the protocol.
Since the transition is still at an early stage, it’s easy to forget that IPv6 has, as a document, been around since the late 1990s – an era long before ordinary users had learned to fear the NSA, worry about deliberately-compromised cryptography, or wonder if they’d lost their data to the Heartbleed bug.
Back then, the authors of IPv6 were worried about address exhaustion, so the main game was to expand the address space, making it big enough that everyone/thing could get an address. Data confidentiality was considered optional to the operation of the protocol.
With its new-found desire to NSA-proof the Internet, it’s no surprise that there’s an RFC that looks back at IPv6 to propose how addresses could be made more private.
Since v6 doesn’t need to reassign addresses, the device would then keep that address forever – and there’s where the privacy risk arises. This could be tackled by using temporary addresses, but only at the cost of making sys admins’ work a bit of a nightmare.
The new RFC, 7217, offers at least a partial fix: while a host’s address would be stable as long as it stays attached to a given subnet, it would change as the host moves between networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flipping the switch
Physicists design quantum triggers that can be activated by a photon
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/04/flipping-the-switch/
Harvard researchers have succeeded in creating quantum switches that can be turned on and off using a single photon, a technological achievement that could pave the way for creating highly secure quantum networks.
Built from single atoms, the first-of-their-kind switches could one day be networked via fiber-optic cables to form the backbone of a “quantum Internet” that allows for perfectly secure communications
“From a technical standpoint, it’s a remarkable accomplishment,” Lukin said of the advance. “Conceptually, the idea is very simple: Push the conventional light switch to its ultimate limit.”
Though fabricated in a way similar to how traditional computer chips are made, the integrated circuits built by Thompson and Tiecke don’t run on electricity, but on light.
The chips use nanophotonic technology — essentially the ability to create “wiring” that can channel and control the pathway of light — to build optical circuits that can then be connected to fiber optic cables.