Is wireless becoming a valid alternative to fixed broadband?

Are wireless technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX2 closing the gap on fixed broadband? 

A recent blog by The Economist discussed how Long Term Evolution (LTE) is coming to the rescue of one of its US correspondents, located 5km from the DSL cabinet and struggling to get a decent broadband service. 

Peak rates are rarely achieved: the mobile user needs to be very close to a base station and a large spectrum allocation is needed.

Mark Heath, Unwired Insights

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2012: A year of unique change

The third and final part on what CEOs, executives and industry analysts expect during the new year, and their reflections on 2011.

Karen Liu, principal analyst, components telecoms, Ovum  @girlgeekanalyst 

"We’ve entered the next decade for real: the mobile world is unified around LTE and moving to LTE Advanced, complete with small cells and heterogenous networks including Wi-Fi."

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The CFP4 optical module to enable Terabit blades

The next-generation CFP modules - the CFP2 and CFP4 - promise to double and double again the number of 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) optical module interfaces on a blade.

Using the CFP4, up to 16, 100Gbps modules will fit on a blade, a total line rate of 1.6 Terabits-per-second (Tbps). With a goal of a 60W total module power budget per blade, that equates to 27Gbps/W. In comparison, the power-efficient SFP+ achieves 10Gbps/W.

 

Source: Gazettabyte, Xilinx

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Altera unveils its optical FPGA prototype

Altera has been showcasing a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip with optical interfaces. The 'optical FPGA' prototype makes use of parallel optical interfaces from Avago Technologies.

Combining the FPGA with optics extends the reach of the chip's transceivers to up to 100m. Such a device, once commercially available, will be used to connect high-speed electronics on a line card without requiring exotic printed circuit board (PCB) materials. An optical FPGA will also be used to link equipment such as Ethernet switches in the data centre.

"It is solving a problem the industry is going to face," says Craig Davis, product marketing manager at Altera. "As you go to faster bit-rate transceivers, the losses on the PCB become huge."

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OIF promotes uni-fabric switches & 100G transmitter

Improving the switching capabilities of telecom platforms without redesigning the switch as well as tinier 100 Gigabit transmitters are just two recent initiatives of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF).

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Reflections 2011, Predictions 2012 - Part 2

Gazettabyte asked industry analysts, CEOs, executives and commentators to reflect on the last year and comment on developments they most anticipate for 2012. Here are the views of Verizon's Glenn Wellbrock, Professor Rod Tucker, Ciena's Joe Berthold, Opnext's Jon Anderson, NeoPhotonics' Tim Jenks and Vladimir Kozlov of LightCounting.

Glenn Wellbrock, Verizon's director of optical transport network architecture & design

The most significant accomplishment from an optical transport perspective for me was the introduction of 100 Gigabit into Verizon's domestic - US - network. 

"The key technology enabler in 2012 will be the flexible grid optical switching that can support data rates beyond 100 Gigabit"

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Reflections and predictions: 2011 & 2012 - Part 1

Gazettabyte has asked industry analysts, CEOs, executives and commentators to reflect on the last year and comment on developments they most anticipate for 2012.

"For 2012, the macroeconomy is likely to dominate any other developments"

Martin Geddes, telecom consultant @martingeddes

Sometimes the important stuff is slow-burning: we're seeing a continued decline in the traditional network equipment providers, and the rise in Genband, Acme, Sonus and Metaswitch in their place. Smaller, leaner, and more used to serving Tier 2 and Tier 3 operators and enterprise players and their lower cost structures. 

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