Archiv für den Monat: Oktober 2010

In Quest of Online / Cloud Storage

[Update 26th of December]
Today I found the solution, Use Dropbox without Gnome. Special thanks to the author of this post.

The tool is trivial to install, very straight forward to use, just excellent. Here is a copy of the instructions:

1. Download the closed source Dropbox Linux client from http://www.getdropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86 (x86_64 for 64 bit)
2. Extract the contents and you should get a .dropbox-dist folder out of the archive. Move the folder to $HOME
3. Run ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd.

In the meantime I got SuSe+WebDav+Dolphin working for MyDrive.ch. Only rather small files are supported, though. I didn““““t figure out what“s the exact size/limit, mostly since I prefer a truly „public“ folder and MyDrive.ch supports only a „guest user“ (you need to share this login).

[Initial post, 31st of October]
My web hoster asks for more money for better service. Fine, business as usual.

But I just don““t need a whole bundle of services. What I need is more online storage. These are the results of some web research

A few requirements
1 – Public accessible folder
2 – WebDav, FTP, or whatever tool for convenient access (upload) from Linux (KDE, Suse)
3 – 1GB+ storage
4 – Free

Dropbox
OK: 1, 3, 4, Partially ok – 2 (requires Nautilus File Manager but I perfer Dolphin, which has native WebDav and split-view support), Popular service based on Amazon AWS

Google Docs
OK: 1, 3, 4, Not OK: 2, Well-known integrated services, only one GB free

Gmail Drive
OK: 3, 4, Not OK: 1, 2, Well-known integrated services, no public access though and subject to all the mail analysis by Google (guess that““s the same for Google Docs)

Box Net
OK: 1, 3, 4, Not OK: 2, Online storage pioneer

MyDrive
OK: 2, 3, 4, Not OK: 1, Nice Swiss-native service

SMEStorage
OK: 1, 4 Not OK: 2, 3, No closer look as storage tiny

MS SkyDrive
OK: 1, 3, 4 Partially OK: 2, Cryptic configuration under Linux, requires a MS-compatible tool to extract WebDav addresses

Intel European Research and Innovation Conference (ERIC) 2010 (Braunschweig)

I had the pleasure of speaking about „European Future Internet Research“ at the ERIC 2010 in Braunschweig.

With much regret I arrived late and had to leave early. Due to could only attend the session I am was talking in „Digital Europe / Open Innovation“. But the session was once more a great experience.

Dr. Eddie O’Connor, Founder and Chief Executive and industry pioneer and veteran with 30 years of experience, delivered an eye-opening speech about renewable energy (offshore windfarming) in Europe and elsewhere. The sheer numbers were stunning to me (yes we know that we run out of energy / fosil fuel) but one got to see some figures to really grasp how fast. A few takeaways:
+ Onshore windfarms approach their capacity limits simply because appropriate locations are getting scarce.
+ Compared with growth of global population traditional energy generation will fail in the very near future – Eddie promotes 50% wind energy by 2050
+ But for that a „super grid“ is needed to connect the many offshore farms needed for that, this implies many new technologies that allow to transport electricity over large distances (can only happen in DC mode)

For more on that see Eddie““““s blog and Mainstream Renewable Powers (check the companies fund raising track record !)

ICIN 2010 in Berlin

I was attending ICIN 2010 in Berlin. My keynote on „Global Future Internet Research“ can be found on the conference website (link below).

Worthy conference with a good number of talks/attendees. Particularly interesting I found the mixture of people from research and those working on innovation and/or general management.

Few takeaways:
+ IaaS (network+storage+computing) seen as good business model for telcos in the future
+ Value of enforcing an extra revenue share from Google questionable since 25bn (Google) versus 1000bn (Telcos) is peanuts (CEO of Northstream).
+ Appstores/developer communities for telcos of limited value since Appstore mainly a tool for device sales (mobile device manufacturers)
+ Telco““““s shall better look into many smaller business models rather than looking for the next SMS-like killer app (H. Arnold, T-Labs)

The slides of the keynote speakers are meanwhile available for download

1st FOKUS FUSECO Forum 2010

I am attending the 1st FUSECO Forum in Berlin, at Fraunhofer FOKUSFUSECO Forum 2010

A few takeaways (slides at download)
HP Baumeister – Fraunhofer Digital Media Technologies, USA
+ Verizon happy to be a „bit pipe provider“ and teams-up with Skype exclusively

Franz Seiser, Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany
+ Deployment (especially integration) of EPC into existing infrastructure true challenge (despite the streamlined architecture of EPC itself)
+ Roaming (in particular IMS roaming) and QoS (different signalling) big challenge
+ Roaming primarily a European issue
+ Challenge with signalling load in LTE due to non-standard conform feature (immediate dormant mode) of smart phones (for energy saving). Operators don““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““t have any means to control signaling in their networks
+ Another challenge related to signaling is that LTE/EPS uses Diameter exclusively and hence is not simple to integrate into existing SS7-based 2G/3G systems
+ IMS still way too much focused on fixed networks

Giulio Maggiore – Telecom Italia, Italy / ETSI TC INT Chairman, France
+ IMS & EPC Interoperability to be released by ETSI TC INT in 2011
+ Workshop 3GPP rel 8 Implementation, Deployment and Testing, 24-25 Nov 2010, Sophia Antipolis, FR

Industry panel:
Markus Beckmann, Accenture, Germany, Sven Akesson, Ericsson, Sweden, Wolfgang Hummel (Telco SM), HP, Germany, Cornel Pampu, Huawei Technologies, Germany, Bernd Wunderlich (Telco SM), IBM Deutschland, Germany
Thorsten Robrecht (Head of Global LTE), Nokia Siemens Networks, Germany, Alain Dakroub, Tekelec, France

+ NSN: currently has (global) 52% of GSM subsribers and 72% of WCDMA, currently 32 LTE networks globally (LTAM, Asia), Germany also close to forefront, NSN roughly 1M LTE basestations deployed globally, devices are already there and comercially available in weeks/month, 50% of NSNs business is already operating networks, 45K LTE basestations to be deployed by Lightsquared and operated by NSN
+ IBM: Germany decreasing telco market, question what can LTE do to solve this – generate more revenue?, Operators have to operate 2G, 2.5G, 3G and soon 4G networks but revenues shrink (~2 percent), challenge / opportunity is cloud computing for enterprises, OTT-provider kept the consumer based for them
+ HP: Offers a combined HLR+HSS product, better work with OTT (like Goolge) rather to fight them
+ Ericsson: IMS already deployed (mostly in fixed domain), Ericsson has a unit Global Services and running (deploying/operating) already hundreds of networks
+ Accenture: One challenge with these technologies is the process change that comes along with convergence (e.g. by EPC/SAE), massive impact on IT systems, changes needed in ticketing, customer support, OSS/BSS, etc, key element to address pressure of decreasing revenues is out sourcing to dedicated specialists in countries abroad (e.g. India, Asia, East-Europe) – examples engineering, operations (e.g. provisioning in shared service centers) and similar.

Q&A: Shall operators outsource core services like voice? Accenture: better not

M2M Opportunities – Lessons Learned from the US Market
Ronald M. Jubainville, Sprint, UK
+ Sprint SIP-enabled IMS network since Aug 9th 2006, First US 4G network in the US, World““““s first 3G/4G Android phone
+ What matters are devices, e.g. Mobile ATMs (average load per Mobile ATM is 6MB/month)
+ Usage-based insurance for cars with 183M users operational

Alfonso Ehijo, Telmex International, Latin America / University of Chile
+ Verizon does befriend the idea of bit-pipe provider due to compensation by several exlusive partnerships with Google, Skype, and similar content/service providers
+ Relationship (the R in smart) is what really matters (c.f. Verizon)

Roberto Minerva, Telecom Italia, Italy
+ Too many network APIs out there
+ The problem is that Telco““““s are accountable and for that make usage of network APIs complex and heavy
+ Issue is the difference between global Internet services and local communication (network) services
+ IMS will not be able to support services for business services
+ OneAPI is too late
+ Interoperability is an issue for telcos, not the users
+ WebCo(mpanies) are much faster and release alpha versions and by that involve the users early – versus – Telco““““s develop standards over years …

Q&A: There is a big opportunity in the _private_ cloud (Google is not (yet) there) says Sprint

Prof. Marc Drüner, trommsdorff + drüner, Germany
+ Marketing has to go online, „go where the customers are“, people expect the company comes to them,
+ Cool Internet App: Mint.com – manage your financials using the wisdom of the crowds!
+ 75% percent of Indian youth has first contact with Internet via mobile devices
+ Extensive study of Retail Use Cases available by the company

Boaz Zilberman, fring, Israel
+ IMS is a waste of time, too complex, too heavy,
+ Mobile app industry leapfroged IMS

Sebastian Krems, ITCcon GmbH, Germany
+ Wholesale is key to the future and this means partnership
+ Wholesale industry in the telco domain behind to other industries
+ Roughly 250MB of information per year/person, total 1-2extabyte/year
+ Telco industry sustained 50% of price decline/year for the last 30 years
+ Wholesale today: long distance: doesn““““t make a good business anymore -> efficiency and scale are king; access: potential for a long-term business for investors who can sustain a steep ramp-up
+ In the future – wholesale will be all over the place!

Dr. Ralf G. Herrtwich, Daimler AG, Germany
+ The most profitable pieces in a car „integrated solutions“
+ So far web-experience in vehicles are lousy! Network doesn““““t support 200km/h ! – LTE could be the solution

Philipp Freudenberger, SAP, Germany
+ SAP about to take a bold step into the (enterprise) mobility domain (c.f. Sybase acquisition), along with SAP““““s strive for broader adoption of its solutions (goal of 1bn users by end of 2010)
+ Value chains get more and more sophisticated, increasing number of players, stakeholders, – business networks
+ How to make money out of an increasing amount of information? – Example: „from starvation to restaurant to food and payment“, „collaborative eCare“, „utilities – increased collaboration by smart cars, smart meters“, „retail – highly collaborative since customers can use real-time offer/price comparisions“

Closing Note by the Chairman – Thomas Magedanz, TU Berlin / Fraunhofer FOKUS
+ Still many open questions to be answered, especially in view of the more complex value chains in the future
+ Will there be a common platform in the future that supports this value chains and allows for collaborative value proposition?
+ This will be addressed by „Future Internet Research“ !

Epilog (by TMB)

* Some Teminology
LTE = Long Term Evolution (also known as eUTRAN)
SAE = System Architecture Evolution
(3GPP technical study item defining EPC)
EPC = Evolved Packet Core
EPS = Evolved Packet System incl EPC, LTE and terminal

LTE Deployments and Operations

2010-10-global-lte-deployments

Some announcements in chronological order (early adopters first)

GERMANY
Jun – Sep 2010- Deutsche Telekom deploys and operates first LTE base station in Kyritz (Brandenburg) and expands in rest of Germany, T-Mobile LTE in Baden-Würtemberg and T-Mobile LTE in Bavaria

Sep 2010 – First Telefonica O2 LTE pilot up and running in Munich, Bavaria, c.f. O2 LTE in Baviara

Sep 2010 – Vodafone deployed first comercial LTE base station in Germany (Ostseebad Heiligendamm), c.f. Vodafone LTE in Ostseebad Heiligendamm

USA
Jul 2010 – NokiaSiemensNetworks and LightSquared team-up to build, deploy, and operate a U.S. wholesale-only, integrated wireless broadband and satellite network, c.f. NSN and LightSquared LTE in USA

Sep 2010 – Ericsson launches its first LTE network in North America, c.f. Ericsoon LTE in USA