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.

The IRIS payload from Cisco is carried by the Intelsat 14 satellite launched on 23 November 2009. The payload was powered up in orbit on 1 December, followed by network testing beginning on 17 December 2009 before the IRIS capability became operational.

Unlike previous satellite communications (SATCOM), IRIS allows the routing of IP packets in orbit across satellite beams. NC3A cites one of the advantages of IRIS over conventional satellite technology as being that it can route data between ground users covered by different satellite beams in a single satellite hop, thus reducing transponder use and increasing efficiency. Furthermore, the payload regenerates the received signals, improving the end-to-end signal performance and allowing a reduction in the size of sending and receiving terminals. IRIS will provide users with a mobile network allowing them to connect and communicate how, when and where they want, and that continuously adapts to their requirements without reliance on a predefined, fixed infrastructure, according to NC3A.   It essentially forms the backbone of a network for mobile Internet access anywhere in the world. Finally, the software of the router and onboard modem can be upgraded from the ground, increasing the flexibility of the system to implement future waveform and router standards.

NASA’s T.J. Creamer did the first tweet directly from space. At approximately 3:38 a.m. EST Friday, he wrote the first message ever posted directly to Twitter. “Hello Twitterverse!,” wrote Creamer, under the user name Astro_TJ.

NASA astronauts have posted Twitter messages in the past, but they first had to be relayed to Mission Control. Now, residents of the ISS can post directly to the micro-blogging site thanks to a new, direct Internet connection.

Creamer’s Twitter followers are becoming legion. He had about 5,000 followers on Friday, but that number had mushroomed to more than 22,000 as of Sunday.

The average Internet download speed in the U.S. is slower than that in 27 other countries, according to a new report by the Communications Workers of America.

Web surfing in the U.S. averages around 5.1 megabits per second (mbps), lagging far behind top-ranked South Korea, where speeds average more than 20 mbps. In 2007, the U.S. download speed was 3.5 mbps, inching up only 1.6 mbps since then. At that rate, notes the report, it will take the U.S. 15 years to catch up with South Korea.

The report discovered that Internet users who live in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions enjoy faster speeds than those in the South or West. The five fastest states included Delaware (9.9 mbps), Rhode Island (9.8 mbps), New Jersey (8.9 mbps), Massachusetts (8.6 mbps), and New York (8.4 mbps).

States on the slow end were Mississippi (3.7 mbps), South Carolina (3.6 mbps), Arkansas (3.1 mbps), Idaho (2.6 mbps), and Alaska (2.3 mbps).

“Every American should have affordable access to high-speed Internet, no matter where they live. This is essential to economic growth and will help maintain our global competitiveness,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America. “Unfortunately, fragmented government programs and uneven private sector responses to build out Internet access have left a digital divide across the country.”

The U.S. is the only country without a national policy to promote high-speed Internet access, noted the report. But that may be about to change.

Signed earlier this year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes a provision for a national broadband plan by spring of next year and grants of $7.2 billion to bring high-speed Internet to rural and remote locations across the country.

That’s a step in the right direction, said the CWA. But the organization would like to see more specific improvements.

In the report, the CWA called for such measures as an Internet infrastructure with enough capacity for 10 mbps downstream and 1 mbps upstream by 2010, tax incentives for businesses to provide faster speeds, and grants to provide computers and broadband equipment to low-income households.

The 2009 report was compiled using data from the CWA’s latest Speed Matters test, which measures the time it takes to communicate with the nearest server on the Net. Gathered from May 2008 to May 2009, the test tracked the speed of more than 413,000 Internet users.

Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10317118-38.html?tag=delicious

I am on the fence on this one.  Being a parent I see the benefit of me subscribing to a service or service provider that filters its content so I don’t need to or know how to.  Products that come to mind are Cyber Sitter, Net Nanny or equivalent..  On the other hand, I believe in education.  I need to teach my children about the internet.  There may be situations I need access to information out there that may be blocked for my children not for me. 

Is it possible to get both? I think yes. I don’t think service providers should block content without letting me know in advance.  This is so I can decide if their service is good for me.  If they are going to offer this service, let people know, or offer two types of services.  Let the free market decide.  I don’t have a problem with them prioritizing traffic, or de-prioritizing traffic as the case might be.  I dont mind them requiring you to relay your outbound mail through their server.  I think those help the net in general and it is the obligation of the provider to protect them self.

Intelletrace Offers Dedicated (unshared no aggregation) direct internet access to the internet.  This is how I believe it should be done, this is what we advertise.  This is what we do. 

Why this blog?  this is a post from the Washington Post regarding the following article.

FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access

As a recent court hearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.
The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.
“This is a pivotal moment,” said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers’ access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service.
The issue may have reached a turning point last week when a federal appeals court questioned the limits of the FCC’s authority in a 2008 case involving Comcast. The agency had ordered the Internet and cable giant to stop blocking subscribers’ access to the online file-sharing service BitTorrent. But in an oral hearing last Friday, three judges grilled an FCC lawyer over whether the agency had acted outside the scope of its authority.
The appeals court is still hearing the case, but analysts predict that the FCC will lose and that the ruling could throw all of its efforts to oversee Internet access into question. A loss could undermine the legality of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s push for policies that would prohibit service providers from restricting customers’ access to legal Web content — the concept known as net neutrality — and throw into doubt the agency’s ability to oversee pricing and competition among Internet service providers.

IP is the workhorse of the Telecom industry.  For those of you not sure with the short hand term of IP, it stands for Internet Protocol. 

Today this is the core communications method that all internet and most home devices communicate over.  In my house I have a number of devices, from the obvious to the not so obvious.  Computers, IPhone, Xbox, Wii, Home Theatre AMP, DVD Library, Blueray Player, Home Automation, Home Alarm, Satellite TV, Pool and Hottub, and video surveillance. Then last but not least My VOIP Phone.  This is just to mention a few.  I am glad that I have Fiber to The Home (FTH) to support my needs. 

I see carrier’s traditional TDM networks being retired in time to accommodate this new trend.  This clearly will not happen all in 2010 but it will be an evolution in infrastructure. 

“Efficiencies and efficiencies of scale are the primary thing providers are looking for. Even when we’re doing some things like TDM-to-IP legacy service migration for them, the faster we can get it to IP the happier they are. They want to push that to the edge as fast as they can,” said Jay Wilson, Adtran’s senior vice president and general manager of its carrier division. “From a carrier perspective, the biggest thing is efficiencies, not necessarily just efficiencies of scale but efficiencies of bandwidth and ease of provisioning, improved visibility.”

I see IP convergence of the three basic services. Data, Voice, and Video over IP.  I don’t see the next big hurtle being the adoption of this change but a change to IP that is almost mandatory to continue this explosion in growth.  I am referring to the long awaited adoption of IPv6, Internet Protocol Version 6 is the next generation protocol for the Internet.

For all of these reasons you are now going to need to identify a carrier that truly understands data.  There are a few out there that do. In fact their business model focuses on data only.  These are the providers of the future.  One of theses such providers is Intelletrace.