Re-Posted from 03/10/10 at 1:32pm from Zacks
US telecom behemoth AT&T (T) reported that it has successfully completed a real-time field trial of 100-Gigabit Ethernet technology, a next-generation backbone network standard. The technology is expected to be available commercially over the next few years. 

In the trial, AT&T tested Cisco’s (CSCO) newly unveiled CRS-3 core router in a live network environment. Moreover, the carrier used leading IP network test solution provider Ixia’s (XXIA) “K2″ 100-gigabit Ethernet test solution and Opnext’s optical equipment. The trial demonstrated a single-carrier 100-gigabit data transmission on a 900-kilometer ultra-long-haul transport link between New Orleans, Louisiana and Miami, Florida.

The 100-gigabit standard supports a data rate of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps), representing a significant increase from the current peak speeds of 40 Gbps enabled by the existing industry standard of 40-gigabit Ethernet. The technology has been designed to effectively support the burgeoning volumes of wireless and wireline broadband data traffic.

Leading carriers across the globe are increasingly focused on accelerating Internet network speeds, given the rapidly growing demand for greater bandwidth. Total bandwidth consumption significantly increased in 2009, driven by the growth of video and other high-bandwidth applications.

100 Gbps networks have emerged as the next major Ethernet standard. Demand for 100 Gbps service in enterprise data centers is ten times greater than the existing fastest deployments. At this speed level, users can enjoy super fast data transmission speeds, which can transmit a 2-hour high-definition movie in 9 seconds or fully loaded 500-gigabyte hard drive in 46 seconds.

AT&T’s trial follows a similar live trial by Verizon (VZ), which was recently conducted using Juniper’s (JNPR) core router and NEC America Inc’s network routes in North Dallas, Texas. Verizon is optimistic in deploying the 100 Gb technology in late 2010.

The ongoing initiative to deploy 100 Gbps capability should render greater overall network efficiency while improving cost effectiveness. Additionally, this advancement will enable AT&T to address increasing customer demand for higher network throughput for both wireless and wired Internet applications.

This is a upcoming problem that we are experiencing in Northern California on new build outs of DS3’s. We have experienced it to date 4 times.   Each time the LEC engineer is surprised.  It is not a problem with AT&T or any other carrier directly, but it does require the LEC to resolve the issue.

This was orginally experienced on a Verizon Business DS3 using AT&T as the LEC.  Verizon Business was very persistent.  They were well aware and acknowledged there was an issue but admittedly did not know what it was.  We worked with 3 engineers at Verizon Business simultaneously.   AT&T was difficult.  The third engineer we dispatched was great and was willing to work through the problem.  Persistence pays off.

When we ran to loops provided by the LEC at the MUX, all was Clean.  When we placed a Hard Loop on the Adtran DS3 NIU, all was clean. When we connected to the router we took errors.  Placing a Hard loop on the Router, all was clean. The router was a Cisco 7206 VXR with a PA-T3.  The distance from the NIU and the router was about 20 Feet.  Replacing the DS3 cables 3x did not change the issue.  Changing all of the settings in the router ( Encapsulation Protocol, Line Build Out, Clocking, Scramble. Etc…) did not resolve the issue.

Resolve:
After multiple dispatches we had an AT&T engineer on site.  He pulled the NIU card and all of the errors went away.  The AT&T engineer replaced the card with a new card and the errors returned.  I had heard of Line Build Out (LBO) being an issue, but ran into it usually if the cable run was too long.  I asked the AT&T Engineer to look at it.  He stated there was no option on the MUX but he could look at the NIU. The NIU was software configurable with a serial connection.  There were two options.  Normal and Short.  Default is set to Normal. We set the NIU to short and all of the errors went away.

If a company needs a bandwidth for the connection of their voice and data applications on networks that have almost always choose a T1 connection or T3. What is a T1 and a DS3 connection? Why is it better than DSL and cable for commercial use?

T1 (1.544 Mbps) and DS3 (45 Mbps), the connections are in business class traditional leased digital telephone lines. The technology is already pre-cable and DSL. The main advantage is the service. We rely on the phone company to resolve these issues in as fast of a manner as possible. Companies rely on these connections for their income. If these lines are down it can cost thousands of dollars per hour. You also have time-tested surveillance and diagnostic capabilities to keep them so they are more reliable.

A T1 is 1.5 Mbps and average of between $ 300 – $ 500.

A 45Mbps DS3 will cost several thousand dollars a month. However, T3 (or DS3) prices have steadily declined in recent years and can be found in rule for between $ 3-4000 in many areas. but that still makes the cost of impractical for small businesses, in many cases.

Often a corporate capacity and the cost is optimized by using a fraction of a DS3 rather commit to the full bandwith. The big advantage is …. cost reduction and scalability for the periods in which the Surge capacity is required, or business growth strategy is designed and built.

There are also Point-to-Point circuits who are not connected to the Internet. They connect from customer to customer. This type of connection will allow you have a line between two private companies without risk to Internet security.

DS3′s and T1′s are symmetrical, unlike the majority of DSL cable, you get the same speed in both directions. Also important for businesses, in particular the exchange of data between departments.

DSL and Cable services are not a direct connection to a Tier One carrier and generaly are shared causing slowness at peak hours.

Not surprisingly, that can be expensive for a small business, DS3 is so absurd. Costs depend mainly on the distance. This also works on it, two simple parts, the local network (the cost of fees for local historians signal the end of headquarters-user market, otherwise known as CO, at present, otherwise known as POPs, the carrier) and the port (the cost of accessing the telephone network or the Internet), through the network of the carrier. Normally, the price brings the speed of access, and the annual commitment level is based, while the cycle is based on geography.The higher the CO and POP, plus the cost of the cycle.

Unless you run a business that can not afford to go for a half day, you are better off with cable or DSL. Otherwise …. the reliability, scalability, performance and capacity that would be better to evaluate the options using a T1 or DS3 bandwidth.

Every computer user utilizes energy.  If it is not the laptop or web enabled phone battery, it is in the datacenter that the computers connect to.  This technology being released by bloom energy is another possible technology to lower our cost of computing.   Data centers take an enormous amount of energy.  Normally I would ignore such hype as this however it is reported this is in production with Google and EBay for over a year. 

In the data center I have toyed with the idea of running a turbine off of natural gas taking the heat of the turbine through a converter to create Cold water, and then run that cold water through all of the various CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) units.  This is unique because it does not burn the hydrocarbon but it does use it.  It produces half of the carbon dioxide a normal power plant does when producing a similar amount of energy.  The big barrier is cost.  If the cost can be dropped significantly we have just found that product to help reduce one of the highest costs in the internet economy, Power.

For the home user, I see an additional cost savings.  Fuel cells create heat.  Route your pipes away from the hot water heater and through this.  Could it be the tank less water heater on steroids?

There is a countdown for the news release at Bloomenergy. 

The 60 Minutes interview is here in its entirety including a video’s.

With all the buzz about Twitter as a customer service tool and many well known companies diving in, you might be asking yourself, should your company use Twitter to connect with your customers. There are a number of things to consider as you answer this question but the most important (by far) is “are your customers using Twitter?”

If they are not, that will affect how you use Twitter. You can’t connect to people who are not there.

Mashable estimates about 12% of the US population will be using Twitter by the end of 2009 with 18% by 2010.

Consider where you do business. Some states have many more people using Twitter. For example, here is a ranking of the top 10 states in the USA based on their Twitter users

1. California
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Flordia
5. Illinois

With all of this in mind, what Telecom Carriers are using twitter at all, and who is using it as a traditional one way push marketing tool.

Carrier Support Twitter Accounts
@askintelletrace            Intelletrace Inc.
@verizonsupport           Verizon Business
@sprintcare                    Sprint
@talktoqwest                  Qwest Communications

Carriers with Marketing ONLY or unknown usage.
@lvlt                                Level3 – Unused Many Followers no tweets
@attnews                       AT&T – Marketing
@xolearning                  XO – Marketing
@Globalcrossing          Global Crossing - Marketing
@integra_cares            Integra Telecom – Many Followers no tweets
@grandecom                 Grande Communications – Marketing
@abovenet                    Abovenet Communications – Many Followers no tweets

No Twitter Accouts Found at all
Yipes
Electric Lightwave
Cogent Communications
Time Warner Telecom
360 Networks

Do the carriers with no twitter presence even know they are being talked about?  Are the Carriers with only a marketing presence doing a traditional PUSH method or are they actually using it as a tool? For the few Carriers Intelletrace, Verizon Business, Sprint, and Qwest Communications, my Congrats for being a telecommunications leader in support.

A great example is a post recently sent out here.  Are you following yet?  It describes an outage with Level3 and Verizon Business.

I have focused on terrestrial telecommunication carriers.  If you want your information to be added to this post, I will be happy to do it at any time.  Just Tweet me @dzerbe or Post a comment to this blog.