It should come as no surprise that the wireless industry is an engine of U.S. economic growth. Just how much so? Well, conducting an in-depth, independent study, Recon Analytics found that the wireless industry supported some 3.8 million jobs and added some $146 billion to U.S. GDP in 2011.
Wireless Economic Impact: Nearly 4 Million Jobs, $146B in GDP
Posted by: Mike Boehne | May 4th, 2012 | No Comments »
Will Tablets Catch On in Rural Areas?
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 19th, 2012 | No Comments »
Urbanites and suburbanites have been primarily responsible for the explosive growth in the use of media tablets. In contrast, tablets have been comparatively slow to catch on in rural areas, held back by lack of awareness and availability, their relatively high price tag and a lag in higher speed wireless networks, according to new research from iGR.
Though just 2% of US tablet sales took place in rural markets in 2011, iGR forecasts that tablet purchases by rural area residents will account for 11% of total U.S. tablet sales by 2016.
Lantiq Brings GigE to ADSL2/2+
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 5th, 2012 | No Comments »
Lantiq today introduced its XWAY ARX300 family for new ADSL2/2+ Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). The new product line incorporates “four System-on-Chip (SoC) derivatives which address different system configurations, ranging from cost-optimized fast Ethernet to feature-rich, high-performance Gigabit Ethernet systems,” according to a company press release.
Three Million New Broadband Subscribers in 2011
Posted by: Mike Boehne | March 22nd, 2012 | No Comments »
Broadband penetration is high in the U.S., but the number of Americans signing up for broadband Internet services continues to expand, while the competition for new subscribers is fierce as telcos vie with cable companies and other ISPs. The 18 largest U.S. cable and telco operators (who account for 93% of the market) acquired 3 million net new high-speed Internet subscribers in 2011, 88% of 2010′s total, according to a new research report from the Leichtman Research Group.
HomePlug Launches AV2 Broadband over Powerline Home Networking Specification
Posted by: Steve Senne | January 10th, 2012 | No Comments »
Powerline networking standards body the HomePlug Alliance has completed and launched its HomePlug AV2 specification. The new digital home networking specification provides high-performance “coverage for broadband networking over powerline wires while remaining fully interoperable with previous HomePlug AV/IEEE 1901-compliant products that are used in millions of consumers’ homes,” according to the trade group’s news release.
HomePlug AV2 supports gigabit-class broadband speeds, which in turn enables HD streaming Internet video, multi-room IPTV, online gaming, HD audio and other high-throughput network services.
The new digital home networking spec was developed by the HomePlug AV Technical Working Group, which includes Broadcom, devolo, France Telecom, Marvell, Qualcomm Atheros, Ralink, Sony, SPiDCOM Technologies and STMicroelectronics.
Improvements to coverage and performance include enhanced delivery of HD/3D network streams throughout homes; accommodation of next-generation ultra-high speed broadband access and services.
Key features include gigabit-class PHY Rate (Physical interface rate); support for MIMO (Multiple Input-Multiple Output) PHY; whole home coverage with built-in repeater functionality; high-definition video and audio support; interoperability with HomePlug AV and HomePlug Green PHY devices; and Active, Standby and Idle power saving modes.
“HomePlug AV2 is the much anticipated and logical follow on to the successful HomePlug AV specification,” said Kurt Scherf, senior analyst for Parks Associates. “AV2 greatly increases the capacity of home networks to support ultra-high speed applications by increasing the network’s bandwidth and also greatly improves reliable delivery of that bandwidth to all areas of the home.”
“The explosion in demand for robust home networking is driving the need for ultra-high speed broadband across the home,” commented Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. “HomePlug AV2 leads the way in enabling a variety of manufacturers to deliver this capability with maximum interoperability.”
Powerline networking standards body the HomePlug Alliance has completed and launched its HomePlug AV2 specification. The new digital home networking specification provides high-performance “coverage for broadband networking over powerline wires while remaining fully interoperable with previous HomePlug AV/IEEE 1901-compliant products that are used in millions of consumers’ homes,” according to the trade group’s news release.
White Space Alliance Looks to Promote Super Wi-Fi
Posted by: Mike Boehne | December 28th, 2011 | No Comments »
A founding group of five telecoms technology organizations have launched The WhiteSpace Alliance, an international trade association that aims to promote and foster use of unused TV band ‘White Space’ frequencies to deliver wireless broadband Internet services at reasonable cost to rural, under- and unserved areas.
Verizon Wireless, Cablecos Partner on Spectrum, Services
Posted by: Mike Boehne | December 5th, 2011 | No Comments »
Verizon Wireless is picking up additional wireless broadband spectrum from SpectrumCo, LLC, a cable industry joint venture consisting of Comcast (63.6%), Time Warner Cable (31.2%) and Bright House Networks (5.3%). Verizon Wireless is paying $3.6 billion for SpectrumCo’s 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses, which cover 259 million Points of Presence (POPs).
Can Broadband Save Consumers $8K Per Year?
Posted by: Mike Boehne | November 4th, 2011 | No Comments »
A high-speed broadband connection to the Internet can save American consumers nearly $8,000 a year, according to the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA). The cost savings are detailed in the IIA’s, “The Real Cost of the Digital Divide in 2011,” a report produced by Nicholas J. Delgado, a certified financial planner and principal of Dignitas, a wealth management company based in Chicago.
The savings are primarily the result of using the Internet to comparison shop and find group deals. “Consumers are able to save online due to price comparison, access to deeper markets and the power of group-buying,” said Delgado. “The popularity of websites like Groupon and LivingSocial has skyrocketed with users able to cut their spending in half in areas like dining out, entertainment and salon services.”
Delgado’s analysis is based on the 2010 Consumer Expenditure Survey, which the US Dept. of Labor released on Sept. 27.
Average annual expenditures per consumer fell two percent in 2010, according to the report, though the amount saved, at $7,707, stayed about the same compared to a year ago. 2010 percentage savings rose in Housing (9.8%), Food (26%), Gasoline (6.19%) and Non-Prescription Drugs (30%).
The average cost of a home broadband connection in 2010 was $490. Taking advantage of discounts offered only to online customers, consumers could save $7,200 per year on essentials such as housing,
food, clothing and basics like entertainment and travel, according to the IIA.
Broadband customers can completely eliminate the average $46.68 spent on paying bills, for instance. They could cut the average spent on newspapers by nearly 90%, and that spent on entertainment nearly in
half. Buying non-prescription drugs online can yield savings of 30 percent, while the amount spent on buying clothes can be reduced by nearly 34 percent.
A disproportionate percentage of Americans lacking a broadband Internet connection are either minorities, seniors, lower income or live in rural areas. Thus those who can benefit the most from a broadband connection and the savings that can be gained re missing out.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, just two-thirds of American adults have a broadband connection at home, while the Commerce Dept. reported in February that only 60 percent of
rural households have a broadband connection, the IIA noted.
“Broadband service is like a treadmill; you have to use it to reap the benefits,” said Bruce Mehlman, IIA co-chair. “Extending broadband access to all Americans is the best way to empower them to better
manage their spending in a challenging economic environment.”
“Smart spending online can add up to a lot more money in your pocket,” added IIA co-chair Jamal Simmons. “For financial management, education, health care and jobs, high-speed Internet is an equalizer,
a tool that stretches across socioeconomic status and provides opportunities otherwise unavailable.”
A high-speed broadband connection to the Internet can save American consumers nearly $8,000 a year, according to the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA). The cost savings are detailed in the IIA’s, “The Real Cost of the Digital Divide in 2011,” a report produced by Nicholas J. Delgado, a certified financial planner and principal of Dignitas, a wealth management company based in Chicago.
Calix Adds Dual Stack IPv6-IPv4 Support
Posted by: Steve Senne | November 4th, 2011 | No Comments »
With service providers of all types migrating, or at least making plans to migrate to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), Calix has added IPv6 support to its Ethernet eXtensible Architecture (EXA) and C7 Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP). C7 MSAP customers can add dual-stack support for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses with a simple, free software upgrade, according to a company news release.
Colleges and Universities Accelerating Wi-Fi Deployments
Posted by: Steve Senne | October 19th, 2011 | No Comments »
U.S. colleges and universities are expanding their wireless networks and scaling back their wired LANs (local area networks), according to an Aruba Networks‘ annual survey of 298 IT professionals that focused on defining networking priorities at U.S. higher educational institutions.
