Bandwidth

A coming bandwidth drought?

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Are the good times coming to an end? A recent study by Nemertes Research says that limits to Internet bandwidth could leave VoIP callers on permanent hold and the rest of us twiddling our thumbs while waiting for email to download. What's the reason for the coming bandwidth shortfall? It's a number of things, but the big reasons are the rapid expansion in residential broadband deployment and the rising use of bandwidth-intense applications like streaming movies, video conferencing, and mobile VoIP. And just when we were finally starting to get the hang of this whole Internet thing…

For more on why you should be afraid of the bandwidth going away:
- Read the study report at eWeek

Get ready for OFDM

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Orthogonal Division Frequency Multiplexing (OFDM) may not be at the center of your radar screen, but if you build wireless systems or applications, you should be learning about OFDM and what it does for wireless communications. A technology foundation of WiMAX, OFDM will be a key ingredient in allowing mobile WiMAX to have an impact on the work life of mobile professionals. OFDM makes it possible to squeeze more channels and more effective bandwidth into a given slice of radio spectrum--that's a win for WiMAX, the service providers, and the users.

For more on OFDM:
- Read the technology analysis at WirelessWeek

JetBlue's high-altitude WiFi

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

It hasn't been very long since the FCC first said "yes" to the idea of in-flight WiFi (at the same time they were saying "no" to in-flight cell-phone calls). Now, JetBlue is set to begin testing WiFi on a plane, albeit in a very limited way: on a single Airbus airplane on a single route across the country, JetBlue will allow Yahoo email and instant messaging, and activity from certain Blackberry devices. Limited bandwidth (with some market testing thrown in) is the reason for the limits--will this be the first in a long series of WiFi implementations in the air or as far as the WiFi experiment goes? Stay tuned.

For more on the JetBlue WiFi experiment:
- Read the news story at DailyTechRag

Machine-to-machine messaging

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Messaging between embedded control and intelligence devices may not be the sexiest topic in wireless communications, but it could well be the most important. Just as Bluetooth allows communications between devices that are within a short cable's distance of one another, M2M (Machine to Machine) messaging can allow devices separated by miles or oceans to communicate with one to another. M2M is rapidly changing as analog cellular networks are replaced by digital networks, and the change is being reflected in greater certainty in message delivery and timing--not to mention a higher bandwidth available for messages. The market is predicted to grow beyond $8 billion a year--though this market's impact could grow well beyond those economic measures.

For more on M2M applications and growth:
- Read the hand's on analysis at WirelessWeek

Are we ready for WiMAX?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Intel is pushing hard, and the rest of the hardware vendors aren't far behind. 2008 is, they say, going to be the year of WiMAX. I've seen a lot of these "Year of..." stories come and go and I'm not fully convinced that 2008 is going to be the year of anything. For just a moment, though, let's think about what happens if it is the year of WiMAX. That means that your company is likely to begin deploying WiMAX around the enterprise, and deploying WiMAX has some real consequences for your network. For example, if your company is like most, you're running 100 Mbit Ethernet to most desktops. WiMAX is roughly three times that bandwidth--is your backbone ready for the increased demand? You might also want to think about the applications that you'll be moving from cabled subnets onto your wireless network--is your infrastructure ready for the move? If it were me, I'd start acting like I believed all the hype about WiMAX, and would begin to make sure that my infrastructure is ready. There's little harm since most adaptation can come during the normal hardware life cycle. Start now, though, and you'll avoid the rush that's sure to come when your executives start reading about WiMAX and asking, "Are we ready?" -Curtis

700 MHz auction set for January 16, 2008

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

The date has finally been set: The FCC will auction the 700 MHz band currently used by analog television on January 16 of next year. That's the day that the wireless communications market gets a bit bigger as the most significant RF land rush since the original cellular phone auctions gets underway. The new band will be somewhat open, though not nearly as open as Google wanted. There are more questions than answers at this point, but at least the world knows when more answers will start to come.

For more on the FCC auction:
- read the news at NetworkWorld

700 Mhz spectrum uncertainties

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:59 -0400

You likely know by now that the 700 MHz band that the FCC is planning to auction off in the next year is part of the spectrum that will be freed-up when U.S. television goes fully digital in 2009. What you might not have heard is that television isn't abandoning all the spectrum around that slice: over-the-air television broadcasts will still need lots of bandwidth around 700 MHz. Whatever happens in the auction, it will be absolutely critical that the devices and applications not interfere with television signals. The FCC will enforce this requirement, and the National Association of Broadcasters will work hard to make sure that the FCC is strict in its enforcement. You can expect to see lots of press releases during the next few months as different parties say either that the spectrum can't be used at all or that the problems are trivial and not worth worrying about. The truth lies, of course, somewhere in the middle.

The issues aren't trivial, but the methods to avoid problems exist and are in the trial stages. The biggest problem isn't really technology, but timing: most of the parties involved would like to be able to roll out new wireless services the day after the digital television switch-over. That means they have just about a year to get the problems sorted out in order to make the deadline. It's a tough challenge, but I think they can do it--let's just hope that the licensing and political issues are solved as easily as the technology problems. -Curtis

Editor's Corner

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 20:01:40 -0400

There's always lots of talk about mobility and WiFi security, but not much about the internal infrastructure IT organizations need to support, maintain and manage today's growing wireless networks. That's why an article at NetworkWorld caught my attention as it focuses on how some enterprises are managing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) deployment. While it used to be a matter of just monitoring network stability and determining bandwidth needs, today's networks also requires specific tweaking to boost voice applications and ensure top performance. It's an interesting and unique insight into the growing responsibilities of network administrators. -Judy

A guide to ensuring good QoS on a wireless network

Sun, 07 May 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Laying down a wireless LAN is easy enough, but monitoring and making sure quality of service is strong and stable isn't as quick to do. Here's a straightforward 'how to' map to make sure QoS doesn't fall to the wayside. The first step is assessing and prioritizing traffic and which traffic is more vital and requires top bandwidth. Article

A way to calculate VoIP impact and requirements

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:01:36 -0500

Yearning to figure out exactly what the impact of a new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network would be in terms of bandwidth and cost? Then you might want to bookmark this link that provides several different calculator tools for estimating the bandwidth required through an IP-based network for a fixed number of voice paths. There's also a neat "minutes and lines" calculator tool for approximating the number of voice paths that should be created through a wide area network if you have an idea of the number of minutes of calls which the interconnected switches would generate on a daily basis. There are also several other free and low-cost calculator applications on the site.