Holidays without communications - great!!
September 10, 2008
I am now back from holiday and thinking about the good times I had, and also the lack of communications with the outside world - it was great! Infact whilst on my travels, it seemed the only available access was via satellite links. But, as I stood in a camping site registration queue, waiting for the cloud cover to pass to use the internet made me wonder how local business have managed to survive in these areas?
Back at work I was thinking about the wider challenges of providing broadband access to remote and difficult to reach areas, when an article from the BBC caught my eye. It seems Google market presence continues to grow and they are now looking to expand and develop a system that brings high-speed internet connectivity to Africa and the
This is not the only solution in Africa;
All this activity is great and shows there are many ways to make broadband happen. With my interest in the wireless connectivity, I still see a great future in providing accessing to the last mile.
Next holiday... seems I may well be connected where ever I go.
Fairford airshow, UK
September 7, 2008
With over 300 aircraft planned to participate at the Fairford show, and over 170,000 visitors expected, the Royal International Air Tattoo has been acknowledged as one of the worlds great military airshows. I spent the day supporting set up and looking at how wireless broadband was helping to improve communications. Little did I know that the weather was going to turn, and sadly the public event was cancelled for the first time in its 38 year history.
But the Friday proved to be a great success, with the biggest formation of aircraft in Britain for almost 20 years. The flypast with 90 aircraft was watched by the Queen, celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the RAF.
Though I did not get to see the formal fly over I saw plenty of planes and display's at one of the set up days.... very impressive. I was there with volunteers helping to improve onsite communications and broadband links to this temporary community, linking broadband connections from control towers, to flight command centre's, to emergency control rooms. The wireless communications worked perfectly, even as a temporary install and all that electromagnetic interference. The system connected everything from the emergency command ctr, to flight control ctr, to control tower, transport to hospitaility centres. If anyone else has stories with wireless broadband used for temporary events - I would love to read about them.
Highlight of the day .... definitely the F22.... I am starting to become a plane spotter.
Back haul strategies for mobile operators
July 7, 2008
A week ago I was in
This was a new event for me, but with over 300 visitors and a strong international attendance it was both rewarding and interesting.
Plenty of talk on the use of microwave, with 60-70% of backhaul links using microwave, but the trend is a gradual decline. Seems the future is going fibre, with forecasts showing an installed base growing towards 30%. The big driver is the urban requirement for more wireless broadband (3G, 4G). These metro markets typically take 80% of the traffic across just 20% of the network. At the conference it was highlighted that over the next few years 75-100MB links per cell site will be the norm - that will be all that web surfing that you and I will be doing.
Cost as usual was discussed; an interesting comment from my perspective was that not everything had to be at 5nines. From an operator this allows them to look at different technology to reduce costs. We are already seeing the use of unlicensed technology as backhaul links for enterprise, municipalities and public safety. So it makes sense for mobile operator to look at options here as well.
As I left for the day, I took the view that one technology would not deliver everything. The strategy for backhaul was always going to be a mixed solution, from DSL, E1, Fibre to Microwave and even the possibility of wireless broadband links in licensed and unlicensed bandwidths.
Amsterdam and the WiMAX forum
June 19, 2008
Spent this week in Amsterdam, and with the Dutch football team winning it was a great place to visit..... a very orange city.
But the main reason for travelling of course was to attend the WiMAX forum. The big news from the congress was that the number of WiMAX deployments around the world has now reached over 300 in 118 countries. This was reflected in the vast number of stands at the forum, ranging from the big international players to many smaller organizations looking to develop relationships with planning & testing tools and integration solutions.
As I strolled around the RAI in Amsterdam looking at applications, it seemed the key demo's were based around mobile and high speed internet connectivity. It was all WiMAX E with no sign of the older fixed WiMAX D technology. The biggest fun and I may be biased was at the Motorola stand were WiMAX was used to deliver internet access for gamers. Played many an enjoyable moment with Play Station soccer and getting thumped in the process.
WiMAX forum event
June 16, 2008
One of the big news items over recent years has been WiMAX and its introduction to market place as next generation mobile wireless broadband. Whilst more involved in the world of unlicensed wireless broadband it will be great to see how the overlap between these worlds is happening . In any case I hope to see more over this week as I am attending the WiMAX forum event in
Video surveillance - $46B market
June 13, 2008
In the
So where is this growth coming from? I am not sure my high street has any room left for more cameras!! But one of the big drivers for wireless broadband has been the connectivity to video cameras. One simple application has been the use of wireless broadband to connect motorway cameras - no need to close lanes on busy roads to dig and lay cable.
While the video systems may not be for everyone, small is apparently good too... I came across a number of new applications for the home users;
- "With live colour video I can look in at home and know I have the right babysitter," boasts one user!!!
- Other, more unusual uses include monitoring the weather at far-flung second homes.
- Watching the cat as it plays at home from the comfort of the office.
But "you tube" and web video news are the biggest winners, filling hours of our leisure and TV watching. For example, I saw recent CCTV footage from inside a US Bank catching the moment a tornado crashes through its windows.
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