Convergence Conversation

Just when you thought the promise of deliverying Internet conectivity over powerline had been relegated to the archive folder of "nearly but not quite" innovations, IBM announces a $9.6m deal with International Broadband Electric Communications Inc.

IBM will provide and install the equipment, with the whole initiative coming in over two years at up to $70m. The deal focuses on providing connectivity to sparsely populated areas across the eastern United States.

It must be big news as it's been Slashdotted. More info here. More...

Ben Piper of Strategy Analytics has derided Internet connectivity in the US, describing it as "outpaced by other developed nations in terms of broadband deployment, penetration, availability and affordability". He appears to be gifted in framing his assertions by raising the spectre of the Russian Sputnik initiative in 1957 which spurred the US to engage proactively in the space race.

In his report's accompanying press release, Ben is quoted as saying: "Through inertia, complacency and false security, the United States was late out of the broadband starting gate, and has barely begun the game of catch up.... More...

"Broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters". So said Tony Benn, Member of Parliament, to constituents in 1968. That same year, the Free Communications Group (FCG) was founded to demand "democratic control of all media".

Lets skip the next forty years' analysis of broadcasting motives and actions that so preoccupied these politicians, broadcasters and journalists. In 2008, convergence has emerged as a force of nature, irrevocably changing "broadcasting" globally, and the FCG might just be smiling if it still existed. More...

What is a browser? Sounds like an odd question at first, but just consider the range and diversity of Internet connected devices today, and the plethora we might expect in coming years. Consider our growing expectations of what a browser can manage in terms of multimedia (natively?). Consider the implications of desktop widgets and Web services. Consider the incredible variety of applications a browser must facilitate.

Lastly, but most critically from my perspective, consider whether you wish the browser to be open or proprietary. Do you want a for-profit company to dictate the long-term definition of a browser? To determine for the rest of us what is and isn't possible?

We're fortunate today to have Mozilla Firefox. More...

I'm here at the OECD "The Future of the Internet Economy" ministerial meeting in Seoul, and this afternoon I attended the panel on convergence. I Qik'd (streamed from my mobile phone) the presentation by Geoff Huston, APNIC Chief Scientist, on IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 transition.

It's ten minutes long, but Geoff is an anmimated speaker and it's a good overview of the situation.

I'm in Seoul this week for the OECD event "The Future of the Internet Economy". Today is the pre-event for the Internet technical community, and the hot topics are self-governance, enhanced cooperation amongst all the interested organisations, continued emphasis on an open and end-to-end network architecture, and a general desire to do more and to do it faster!

Here's a picture of APNIC's Geoff Huston introducing the concept of "end-to-end" for those delegates not fully aware of the kind of characteristics that make the Internet particularly special. More...

The BBC reports today on comments by Jupiter Research's Ian Fogg about the BT fibre trial in Ebsfleet.

Having described it as "lowest fibre service in Europe", Ian continues: "I am surprised. This is a trial and I see no reason why they aren't trialling the highest speed the technology can deliver. What is the point of a trial if you don't really test things?"

BT responds that the speeds are "very decent" and "higher in fact than anyone currently needs".

Read the full coverage and BT's response here. More...

Not an organisation backward in bringing innovation foward, two innovations from LG have caught my eye in the last few days. Firstly, this rather impressive 35.5mm diameter circular LCD launched 14th May 2008...

Obviously the perfect form factor for a wrist watch, I actually saw a few (no photographs thank you) demos of this technology at this January's Mobile World Congress. I have no qualms admitting that they looked totally gorgeous and I want one now!

Secondly, having previously produced competing and incompatible products, LG and Samsung have partnered on their future mobile digital TV innovation.  They have just submitted the findings of a US test, conducted by the Association of Maximum Service Television, to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) , an international, non-profit organization that develops voluntary standards for digital television. More...

According to the latest analysis by ABI Research, we're going to need 4G networks because the "growing use of mobile broadband services by handsets, laptops, MIDs, and mobile CE devices will place ever-increasing demands on 3G networks."

From their press release:

The new ABI Research Brief “Mobile Broadband Needs FMC and 4G” examines mobile device growth and the two solutions that are required – fixed-mobile convergence and the use of 4G networks – and assesses the importance of each. It also discusses the revenue opportunity that will come from convergence gateways, ASN gateways for mobile WiMAX, and SAE gateways for LTE. More...

http://isp-content-regulation.com

"ISP Future Content Models & Enforcement Strategies 2008 is a crucial summit bringing together key ISPs with global Content Providers to examine the formulation of new and innovative business models for creating a legitimate content offering on the internet. An unique, European benchmarking opportunity, this summit examines the latest on regulation in the UK and elsewhere in Europe to understand how to overcome the legal, technical and financial barriers posed by regulation, and importantly, how this can be done in a cost-efficient and timely way. More...