The fiber access build-out tsunami is swelling. Today more than 750 million households connect over copper and only 20 million over fiber. While it will take years to make a full transition to a fiber-based infrastructure, a rapid transition is in progress. There will be a mix of several technologies (EPON, GPON, 10G PON, WDN-PON, Active Ethernet, LTE, HFC) fighting for Ethernet-based access deployments.

The ICT sector, as one of the world's leading business sectors, has a global responsibility to ensure that its networks are carbon neutral. One of the ways by which a carbon-neutral environment can be achieved is by utilizing multi-service platforms, rather than single-purpose equipment in the network.

The economic stimulus funding for RUS and NTIA will drive tremendous broadband service deployment to rural and underserved areas in the next few years. Delivering broadband services will create a huge backhaul challenge, especially in the RUS case which is targeted at rural areas, with limited backhaul infrastructure. Microwave backhaul is expected to deliver a solution for this backhaul, but there are many considerations that will be important to delivering a successful Microwave backhaul network for this application

The challenge facing metro network planners is to find the most cost-effective way to deliver profitable services in the near-term while deploying a network flexible enough to support an array of new services in the future. Here's a quick look at MPLS, VPLS, and metro Ethernet Transport.

The new broadband stimulus package provides important opportunities for people in unserved and underserved areas to reap the many benefits of high-quality broadband services. The question on everyone’s mind, of course, is how to make best use of the $7.2 billion in funds that will be committed to broadband projects over the next 18 months

The evolution of mobility technologies has allowed us to do things faster, smarter, and cheaper. Mobility and wireless technologies increase employee productivity by virtualizing the collaborative experience. Employees can move between workspaces while remaining connected to their colleagues and information systems. Yet an often overlooked aspect of mobility is the benefit it brings in helping businesses reduce their carbon footprints.

Imagine a group of criminals embarking on a crime spree throughout a city. Using mobile phones they coordinate their actions from miles away, sharing information to evade law enforcement agencies (LEA) and map out an escape route. But there’s a twist. The LEAs are well-coordinated as well, quickly securing a warrant to tap into the criminals’ wireless communications. In addition to listening in on their conversations and data transmissions by intercepting them, the law enforcement agency is able to precisely pinpoint the locations of the handsets sending and receiving the transmissions.

What's next for converging voice and video networks? Here are a few examples of new IP-based communications that are changing the way healthcare is provided, entertainment is provided, security is ensured and transportation is managed..

As mobile devices evolve to resemble handheld computers more than traditional phones, it’s a safe assumption to make that soon the history of computer security will repeat itself in the mobile world. Swift proliferation of smartphones and open mobile device platforms/OS has posed new opportunities for malicious attacks. Mobile Core networks will soon be vulnerable to attack from the mobile user side, which has been a rare occurrence to date. This will require re-architecture the "first line" of security in the network. Additionally, massive increases in bandwidth from data services and increasing number of attacks on signaling and applications layers have proven to be difficult security challenges.

Ethernet rates historically have increased by a factor of 10 and currently are defined up to 10 Gbps. Alternatively, SONET/SDH/Optical Transport Network (OTN) rates, currently defined up to 40 Gbps, traditionally increased by a factor of four; convergence began at 10 Gbps. With recent developments, this convergence continues at 40 and 100 Gbps.

Growing competition from"over-the-top" non-traditional telecom providers, deregulation, rapidly changing technologies and saturation in some markets are making it increasingly difficult for operators to build market share and shore up their ARPU. While the NGN/IMS blueprint has provided a good foundation on which new feature rich applications can be built, the revenue generating, table-stakes applications of the legacy network are often overlooked.

The network testing market is changing. Economic realities are forcing service providers and device manufacturers to work more efficiently together in the testing process in order to bring products to market faster and at lower cost.

While 802.11a/b/g networks face capacity constraints when it comes to video, next generation wireless networks alleviate this constraint. Based on the new 802.11n protocol, the capacity of next generation wireless networks increases to up to 200Mbps with a data rate of 300Mbps. This addition of up to 9x in capacity easily provides the additional capacity for video applications. However, 802.11n presents additional benefits beyond client throughput and network capacity. Here's a look.

In response to the current economic downturn, some telecom executives are considering deferring plans for transitioning to Next Generation Networks (NGN), believing that at a time of credit crunch the capital spending required for the transition is a luxurious upgrade rather than a necessity. However, by adapting plans to the economic conditions, telecom executives may find the recession to be an opportunity to successfully transform to NGN, rather than an obstacle.

Optimized content delivery has become a critical requirement due to the increased level of media-rich traffic on networks. These bandwidth intensive and quality-sensitive offerings raise scaling and operational challenges across multiple dimensions. They also require a mechanism complementary to VPNs to deliver content securely, with resiliency and with maximum cost-efficiency. Point-to-multipoint (P2MP) label switched paths (LSPs) can help.

The major change in mobile operators’ current service mix is that data services do not generate the same revenue-per-bit as voice. Today, service revenue increase can no longer offset the cost of deploying additional TDM-based systems. In other words, TDM can no longer match demand and capacity bit-for-bit in an economically viable manner. But there’s an up side too.

As we plan for next-generation WiMAX and LTE services, how does the backhaul radio systems relate to "environmental friendliness"? Although, many positive environmental impacts are obvious (i.e. reduced power consumption), many of them are not so obvious or secondary in nature. In this latter category, among other things, are factors such as the use of safe and/or recyclable materials, ability/option to use solar (or other) powering and reductions in the consumption of earth minerals, minimization of the disruption of natural habitats during network build-outs.

In times of stagnating subscriber numbers and flatrate-based price competition, carriers are finding it increasingly difficult to offset the rising costs of their network operation. The recent hikes in energy prices and increasing labor costs have added another element of complexity and urgency to the problem. Service providers are seeking to respond to this pressure by adopting greener and more energy-efficient networking strategies. Until now, this has often resulted in increased expenditures but this is set to change.

Mobile Device Management is going through a transition, from its roots in Firmware-over-the-Air (FOTA) for CDMA operators and GSM device configuration, to a foundation for a rich set of over-the-air customer care capabilities. The ROI for this new home of MDM in customer care, addressing a $25 billion annual problem, is proven, with the net result being lower operational expenses for the operator and increased customer satisfaction. Mobile Network Operators are facing challenges in delivering quality customer care, especially in the light of the explosive growth of smartphones.

Anyone might be asking: "Why do applications need to be enabled by the network in the first place?" Well, even for "simple" voice applications there is a myriad of complex interactions between various gateways, the client devices (phones), billing systems, user-specific parameters stored in configuration databases (i.e., their phone number(s), voice mail servers, related application configuration data) that the network must know in order for the user to access the network and send and receive calls. The most important aspect of the service-enabling layer for the operator when offering any service is that the usage must be billable. Nearly every intelligent network application has similar requirements. A key insight related to IMS is that the logical service-enabling functions that have been built for GSM mobile networks over the years can be generalized, especially in light of several simultaneous, disruptive mega-trends.

For the first time ever, we saw HDTV shipments surpass standard TV shipments in 2008. Not only was this driven by price reduction for the hardware itself, but also by the increased availability of HD content, in part spurred by the efficient MPEG-4 standard that allows programmers and cable companies to deliver HD content in half the bandwidth of MPEG-2. How will these trends play out in the current economic climate?

As the convergence of IP-enabled devices becomes more prevalent, high definition (HD) voice and video are quickly becoming vital functions to devices across all areas of our lives. From appliances we use everyday in our home to equipment saving lives in hospitals around the world, HD voice and video are improving the quality and efficiency of our lives and helping to connect people across the world.

While multicore processors come in several different flavors, like the general-purpose devices in PCs or the new multicore digital signal processors (DSP) that are found in advanced base station systems, all multicore processors raise certain design and architectural issues. One such issue that engineers consistently raise is how the multiple processing cores will share system resources such as input/output (IO) facilities, memory, and coprocessor capabilities while avoiding potential bottlenecks in system throughput.

Wireless Ethernet, or Mobile Broadband is a term often associated with the deployment of next generation mobile networks -- so called 4G mobile networks. Such networks are typically designed in "layers," each of which must be equally broadband capable.

Most carriers recognize that IMS provides the golden path to telecom nirvana because its advanced multimedia services enable differentiation and revenue generation. Often not as well understood is the most affordable, simple and seamless path to getting there.