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Mushroom Network Launches Truffle Lite

Tom — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:31:29 +0000

Mushroom Networks, Inc. announced August 24 the launching of the slimmer version of the company’s modern network appliance, which combines DSL, wireless and cable broadband lines in one speedy connection. The product is called Truffle Lite.

Mobile broadband explodes - new content licenses are needed! © by gleonhard

Truffle Lite targets home offices and small to medium enterprises and claims to effectively solve the broadband option gap by providing a more practical way to increase bandwidth capacity depending on their needs. Truffle Lite offers Qos, live traffic feed and integrated security, which are generally required to handle a network. What’s good with Truffle Lite is it combines these features in one single device.

The device uses about four wireless or wired broadband connections that allow it to easily install between the networks without configuration or ISP coordination. This enables the small and medium business to combine multiple providers’ services ensuring a solid Internet connectivity even if one link fails.

“Traditionally, growing companies and home offices have very limited choices when it comes to Internet service. In many scenarios, one DSL or cable line is simply not enough to support operations and services such as MPLS or T3 are overkill and not economically feasible,” said Mushroom Networks CEO Dr. Cahit Akin. “Truffle Lite solves this all-too-familiar service gap by offering companies the ability to scale bandwidth directly coinciding with needs. Besides creating an incredibly fast Internet connection, this little box incorporates all the networking functionalities a business needs to keep the network safe and running optimally.”
The standard Truffle Lite plan comes with two activated WAN ports plus an option to add up to 4 more WAN ports. Visit http://www.mushroomnetworks.com for more information.

Being fast has never been so slow

Tom — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:30:38 +0000

We are living in a world of lightening speed information. Current events happening across the globe are online within minutes. People upload videos or post on social networking sites and although the people and their situations may differ they all have one thing in common; they all need faster broadband connections.

PC010094 © by wburris

The latest buzz in the Internet world is fiber optics. The ability to send data at the speed of light along glass fibers laid in the ground. Fiber optic cables, in contrast to their copper counterparts, do not lose as much speed when traveling over long distances. Making fiber optics the preferred option for Internet consumers but in the UK their choice is limited.

Internet and cable provider Virgin Media is currently the only UK provider to have converted all of its network to fiber optic cables but sadly the provider doesn’t cover all of the UK. Those in rural areas suffer the most neglect. BT also has a pilot scheme for fiber optic cables in Kent, London, and South Glamorgan but this is only the beginning.

Fiber optic cabling can only go so far in the UK at the moment. People’s home are still connected to their local exchanges with copper cabling so even if the data is very quick to the exchange it will lose time on its journey to your home. Other Internet service providers are calling now for BT and Virgin to open up their fiber optic networks maybe then will the network expand so that the whole of the UK can experience super high speed broadband.

The prospects of video calling

Tom — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:24:33 +0000

Video calling is becoming more and more popular these days. It is not only suitable for business meetings but also for private calls of people who want to see each other. New developments in the involved technologies offer promising possibilities. Especially high definition web cams and fast internet connection will make a new era of video calling possible.

video call to mroach © by kalleboo

One popular service that offers video calls has always been Skype. The setup is easy and the connections are usable reliable. There is also a service by Citrix Online which is called “GoToMeeting”. This service is special because it allows up to six parties to chat through HD video calls. Of course, you will need some bandwidth to utilize the high definition video. Furthermore, you have to get yourself a web cam that supports high definition capturing. With the right setup you can even make use of video calling through you television set. It is not unlikely the video calling will become a standard feature of TVs in the near future. Imagine the convenience of not having to leave the couch for calling your friends.

You actually do not need much of equipment to do proper video calling. If your service provider is reliable the main bottleneck will be your broadband connection. You definitely need a lot of bandwidth for video conferences. Especially when high definition video comes into places. But who wants those badly lighted web cam pictures? Well OK… maybe those who do not want to dress properly when answering the phone

What is LTE?

Tom — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:22:56 +0000

The next big thing in mobile broadband is LTE. LTE is an acronym that stands for Long Term Evolution. Basically, it is supposed to be something like a wireless version of ADSL. It requires that mobile broadcast providers install a lot of new hardware to their transmitting stations. The adoption of this new technology might be a little bit slow for this reason. Once it will become available, the possible uses are impressive though.

Mobile Internet Device, Beijing © by Cory M. Grenier

The biggest advantage of LTE is certainly its speed. The shift from UMTS to LTE will be similar to the shift from ADSL to VDSL. The much extended bandwidth will allow mobile devices to be used like today’s stationary DSL accesses. You will be able to stream high quality video and audio to your smart phone and will be able to download huge files to a laptop that is connected via a LTE stick.

Another advantage is the improve network coverage of LTE. This will have a significant impact in rural areas that lack a decent supply with ADSL or VDSL. Households that are situated to far from the next DSL connection point can be reached much more easily through LTE. The installation of LTE transmitting station in rural will be a lucrative investment for mobile broadband providers.

The low costs of upgrading existing mobile transmitting stations to LTE will likely be the main reason for it to prevail among other concurrent future technologies. However, expect a few years to pass until you will be able to make use of it.

Broadband and IPTV figures provide better outlook for Bell Aliant Q2 earnings

Tom — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:59:47 +0000

Bell Aliant (Toronto: BA-UN.TO ) reported a 1 percent drop in second quarter 2011 revenues of CAD 693 million. However, strong numbers in the growth of its IPTV and broadband sectors led it to boost its full fiscal year’s guidance. Its revised fiscal projection is now between CAD 2.72 billion and CAD 2.78 billion. Its previous EBITDA figures remain unchanged.

Fiber optics © by Kenny Holston 21

Much of the dip in Bell Aliant’s figures came from declining local and long-distance voice call subscribers. Other Canadian and US telcos reflect the same pattern of deteriorating voice call subscriber volumes

According to Bell Aliant’s president and CEO, Karen Sherrif, “The growth rates of our Internet and TV revenues have increased while the rates of decline in our traditional voice and data services have slowed. Our significant investment in a world-class fibre-to-the-home network is contributing to this improvement and gives us confidence that we are on the right path to returning to overall revenue growth.”

According to the company’s key metrics, access line losses declined by 4 percent for local calling and 2.7 percent for long distance calls However, broadband access sales continue to sell briskly for Bell Aliant. Although legacy DSL sales volume continues to decline, newer technology access services such as FiberOp Fiber to the Home (FFTH) attracted a higher volume. This reflects a growing market preference switch to faster broadband technologies. Another growth segment is Aliant’s IPTV video service which racked up 5000 new customers during the quarter. Aliant’s key challenge is to keep up its FTTH and IPTV momentum as it migrates its customers from old service mixes to these newer ones.

Sandvine nets five new deals

Tom — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:58:10 +0000

Broadband network monitoring and intelligence solutions provider, Sandvine, has won five new contracts. The service provider for mobile and fixed service operators announced that three wireless firms and two companies providing DSL access have signed on for its services. The Company now has signed up more new customers than it did for all of FY 2010. These customers come from the UK, South Africa, the USA, Central America, and the Caribbean.

IMG_2512 © by David Boyle in DC

Three of the new deals involved the purchase of Sandvine’s new Policy Traffic Switch 22000 (PTS 22000) platform. The platform was announced earlier this year. According to EVP Marketing Tom Donnelly, “The market continues to validate the PTS 22000. It is an economical solution that provides excellent performance at the network service edge, where Sandvine offers service providers the broadest set of policy options to help improve the subscriber experience, generate new revenue streams and optimize traffic flow.”

Sandvine’s network policy control products help protect and improve user experience quality. The company’s software and equipment package help fixed and wireless telecom operators track network traffic, manage traffic blockages, deal with malicious traffic, and increase end user satisfaction. These software and equipment packages also help customers provide new services. Sandvine has over 200 customers in close to 90 countries. All told, these customers service several hundred million mobile data and broadband end users.

Poor infrastructure leads to communication problems in Africa

Tom — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:48:26 +0000

“Telecom operators in Africa face quite a few challenges in bringing costs down. The two key hurdles are lack of DSL access guidelines and the high hook up costs to inland fiber-optic networks. These crucial barriers have forced some African telecom companies to ask for government intervention.

Demo

The problem takes two forms depending on the size of existing copper line infrastructure. In countries where there are few existing copper line networks, the debate centers on how government regulations and rules can help decrease costs in accessing the national fiber-optic network. In countries where there is an adequate existing copper line infrastructure, the debate revolves around the access rights of smaller companies seeking to offer last-mile connection services.

Take the case of South Africa. It has a wide coverage area for DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) exchanges. This allows for direct communication to customers. This coverage area is the local loop, and it was developed by a previously monopolized telecom firm. The regulatory body, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), is hosting discussions about local loop access between the developer of the network and smaller telcos.
Smaller telecoms don’t have the financial resources to build out their own networks. They are lobbying to access the local loop to provide customers with value-added services. This process is called local loop unbundling (LLU)

One positive effect of LLU has been to foster product innovation, greater customer choice, and flexibility in the local telecom market.

Kenya already allows for LLU but this didn’t result in better services or lower prices because the cost of access to the local loop was left unregulated. This meant Telkom Kenya, the infrastructure builder, was left free to charge competing telcos the same fees as consumer end users. This fee structure removed any incentive for consumers to go through rival telcos.

The discussion has become more complicated with the fast rise in fiber-optic connection and mobile technologies. The debate has focused on whether the barriers to DSL in fixed line LLU settings apply to these technologies. Some analysts are saying that given the rise in competing alternative communication channels, the price of data transmission has gone down. As a result, there should be less focus on allowing LLU since prices are going down due to the rise of competing data channels.

Advantages of VoIP

Tom — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:26:41 +0000

Whether or not businesses or private persons should use VoIP is a decision that depends on the advantages of VoIP compared to the effort of changing the existing communication systems. Some of the advantages shall be presented here.

Cost reduce

Both, businesses and private produce, can save great amounts of telephone fees when using VoIP. For example, a service like Skype is free even when used to call someone at the other end of the world. Businesses however, need more complex solutions. Thus, they will usually have to buy software and they need support. There will also be a considerable amount of money that has to be invested in new hardware. If VoIP can be achieved without great investments it is an interesting option for businesses. Otherwise, it has to be closely calculated whether it actually saves money.

New possible applications

VoIP enables new and interesting applications such as a “Call Me”-Button on Homepages. With such a button customers are able to contact support hotlines. This way, customer service can be enhanced. It is also possible to create a direct communication network between remote offices.

Reducing infrastructure

VoIP does not need a distinct network like telephones. Instead, existing internet technology can be used without the need of a separated dedicated support staff. This can further reduce costs.

Worldwide use

Especially for private persons but also for travelling business people it might be important that a VoIP-Account can be used worldwide whenever there is connection to the internet. Thus, one can be reached all over the world under the same conditions and under the same contact-ID. There is no need to take care of the local telephone provider’s conditions anymore.

Speech quality in VoIP

Tom — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:45:00 +0000

„Voice over IP“ (VoIP) describes an approach to use the internet protocol for telephone communication. This includes telephony over ADSL or VDSL lines. In contrast to conventional telephone calls, VoIP does not establish an actual “line” between the participants. Instead, the speech is converted into packages that are sent as usual data. These packages do not follow a specific line but move on individual paths towards the recipient.

The quality of the speech is comparable to conventional telephony and depends mainly on the send/receive rates of the participants. However, server load among the internet may cause a delay or even interruption while chatting. Thus, VoIP used in intranets may achieve excellent results whereas the dependency on external servers may render it undesirable for a cooperation’s external communication.

The speech quality achieved by VoIP depends on several factors. The first is the microphone that records the audio in combination with the sound unit of the computer which converts the audio to digital packages. Good equipment can achieve results that are highly superior to a conventional telephone. The second factor concerns the VoIP software used – namely the codec that compresses the audio data. Different codecs produce different quality from poor to lossless. After the codec data is packaged and routed to the recipient. The quality of this transmission is the third factor. Packages can get lost which will deteriorate the sound quality. This might be greatly improved with IPv6 that introduces “Quality of Service” which privileges VoIP packages. The last factor is the digital/analogue conversion by the recipient’s hardware. A good sound unit and good speakers/headphones will produce excellent results.

What is ADSL?

Tom — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:40:07 +0000

ADSL stands for “Asymmetric Digital Subsriber Line.” It is currently the most popular connection protocol for digital broadband connections to the Internet. It is a derivation of the DSL standard from the 90s. Unlike DSL, ADSL is asymmetric: That means that the data transfer rates for sending and receiving have different amounts. An ADSL user has a higher rate receiving than for sending. Since late 2005, ADSL2 + is available. With this new standard transfer rates of up to 25 Mbit/s are possible.

photo © 2008 Paulo Henrique Rodrigues | more info (via: Wylio)

The availability of ADSL depends among others on the corresponding upgrade of the local exchange point. Equally critical is a continuous copper line between the customer and the exchange point. For the speed of the connection, the length of the line between participant and exchange point is crucial. With increasing distances, transfer rates drop considerably. Also, the overall network load can have a decisive influence on the speed, because both transfer and ping rates are usually significantly lower in overloaded networks.

At the end of 2009, 21.9 million households with a DSL connection were recorded in Germany. This represents a share of about 90% of all broadband connections. Accordingly, more than every second phone line has already ordered a DSL connection. Two-thirds of the DSL connections are provided by Deutsche Telekom.

In rural areas, a wired DSL connection can often not be realized or the distance to the exchange point is very far, so that only very limited transfer rates are possible. Therefore, wireless access types are an interesting alternative for such areas. Internet access can as well be provided via satellite, Wi-Fi or mobile phone nets.

If you live in Germany, you can easily check whether an adequate broadband connection is available in your area by consulting the “Breitbandatlas” provided by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. You will not only be informed about the availability and possible providers, but also about the expected transfer rates. You can as well download the maps provided there and open them offline.