Apr 4 2008 4:55PM GMT
Posted by: Tom Nolle
Open source,
Networking,
Telecom
We have launched an open source project to develop service logic execution environments (SLEEs) and service management execution environments (SMEEs) for NGN services. The initiative is called “ExperiaSphere,” and we are now actively seeking contributors and partners in the process. We’ve established a website wiki (www.experiasphere.wikispaces.com) for this new venture, and we invite our clients and those who read this blog to review the material there from time to time as the concept develops. Some coding is already started for this activity, and we expect to be making media announcements in May.
Apr 3 2008 12:54PM GMT
Posted by: Tom Nolle
Comcast,
Broadband,
Cable
Comcast will be rolling out a DOCSIS 3.0 trial in Minnesota, with the top download speed 50 Mbps (5 Mbps upload). The service will be the first deployment of the faster cable modem standard, and the interest level will be high since DOCSIS 3.0 is the only architecture that can rival FTTH in performance. However, it’s interesting that Comcast is deploying in Qwest’s territory; the operator has only DSL in contrast to its eastern rival Verizon, whose FiOS can also offer 50 Mbps in some areas. We note that DOCSIS 3.0 is still a shared-media technology with less capacity available per user than FTTH can support, and the upload speed for cable is much lower than for FiOS (which now offers 20/20 symmetrical and 30/20 asymmetrical in some areas).
Apr 2 2008 12:32PM GMT
Posted by: Tom Nolle
mobile Internet devices,
Intel,
Integrated devices,
WiMax
In what may well be a key announcement for the industry, Intel revealed that it had 25 partners working with it on portable Internet devices, or “mobile Internet devices” (MIDs) in the new-speak. These boxes will be designed for use while away from home or work but not mobile as the driver of a vehicle, and are larger than a cellphone but smaller than even the smallest laptops. Intel and others believe that the future of wireless non-voice services will lie in these devices, whose screens are large enough to deliver a credible viewing experience. Intel hopes these will jumpstart the WiMAX market, a key market sector for Intel and also one that has seen recent rumors of partnerships involving Intel, Sprint, Clearwire and Comcast.
Apr 1 2008 1:39PM GMT
Posted by: Tom Nolle
FTTH,
Cable,
Triple play services,
Video
The cable companies are taking the threat of FiOS seriously and promoting technologies that are more suitable for deep fiber and FTTH in their own plants. The activity is concentrated in what is called “RFoG” or RF over Glass, meaning mechanisms to perform the opto-electrical transformation from optical delivery of multicast RF to the CATV plant that already wires the homes. We are hearing that the idea is not to go with fiber to the home despite reports to the contrary, but rather to take more of a fiber-to-the-curb approach, wiring perhaps a dozen homes at the maximum into a CATV span off an RFoG fiber plant. Verizon has been looking at a similar notion of using a remote and MoCA to run cable into the home to reduce fiber provisioning costs in areas where the ARPU won’t justify true FTTH. We believe that there will be more and more outside plant “wiring” using a combination of fiber and coax, even among the carriers.
