Archive for October, 2007
LightReading Ethernet Conference Notes
This is a collection of notes and observations gathered during the LightReading Ethernet Conference that didn’t merit a standalone article. Unless noted, these conclusions were from conversations I had while at the conference, and not the opinions of presenters.
The Wireless Backhaul Opportunity
The best session of the Lightreading Ethernet Conference covered Wireless Base Station Backhaul. Patrick Donegan of Heavyreading and the panelists presented cohesive data and their take on which way the market would head. I gained a new perspective on the opportunity wireless backhaul presents.
The fundamental problem wireless carriers face is the underlying shift from voice dominated to data dominated traffic. Voice is growing linearly, while data is likely to grow exponentially. If leased copper T1’s are used for backhaul, their backhaul costs will scale linearly as capacity is added.
The Real Carrier Ethernet Opportunity
It is amazing how little can change in three years. I spent a great deal of time working on Carrier Ethernet in 2004 and 2005, and the presentations I saw at the Lightreading Ethernet Conference and Expo were no different than the ones I saw in 2004.
Equipment makers such as Ciena (CIEN) sang the praises of Carrier Ethernet (all true) and spoke of the various impediments to deploying it: standardization of inter carrier interfaces, administration & operation, quality of service. It strikes me that the bigger problem is much more basic than the ones being presented.
AT&T Carrier Ethernet Perspectives
Rich Klapman, AT&T Director of Marketing for Ethernet Services, presented yesterday at the Lightreading Ethernet Expo. He provided some perspective on what AT&T is doing in Carrier Ethernet. He was one of several speakers who hit on the scarcity of fiber as a barrier to deploying Ethernet. Here are some raw notes.
Free FTTH in France
Fiber to the Home broadband is not Free in France, but Illiad (Corporate Website) is rolling out FTTH in Paris through it’s broadband ISP Free (note the capitals).
We’ve written about Free before (see “FTTH vs. VDSL in France“) but had a chance to learn more about what Free is doing while having Dinner with Benoit Felten. He consults by day and blogs by night over at Fiberevolution… What an appropriate name for a French Fiber blog.
iPhone Lockup
I’ve found the fracas regarding Apple (AAPL) and the recent release of software for the iPhone rather ironic and worthy of comment.
The iPhone was introduced as a standalone consumer electronic device with little or no modification possible by third parties. In the months since launch, the iPhone attracted hackers by the dozens who bypassed the phones security functions to add many interesting applications, as well as unlock the device for use on any GSM/EDGE network.
