Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
Apart from being an essential upgrade for streaming Ultra HD video at acceptable quality of service, WiFi 6E – the latest iteration of the standard formerly known as 802.11ax – is pitched at levelling the playing field against 5G. This specification extends11ax/WiFi 6 into the additional spectrum, in the 6 GHz band, which some regulators, including the USA’s, are planning to open up for unlicensed use. WiFi 6E devices will work in the new band as well as the existing WiFi frequencies in 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. In a sense, it means that we are in for another era of mixed competition and cooperation, but with some moves towards the long-promised complete harmonization of heterogenous services. Yet harmony relies…
One of the most important contributions that the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is making to the push towards fully open, interoperable networks is to provide real world frameworks for deploying systems based on open specifications like those of the O-RAN Alliance. Gathering and distilling detailed operator requirements, defining processes, facilitating reference designs, and enabling requests for information (RFIs) are just some examples of the valuable, pragmatic developments which are emerging from TIP’s working groups, and which will make it more realistic and less risky for operators to start embarking on open networks. We have already seen a series of RFIs and RFQs (request for quotes) in the small cell and 4G/5G RAN area, led by Vodafone and Telefónica. Now those…
Every week seems to bring new advances in the RAN, and the hope that two huge challenges – a fully cloud-native RAN, and one that is fully open and interoperable – may be achievable in the 5G era. In the most recent development, Rakuten Mobile has started production of open RAN base stations, designed with NEC, while virtualized RAN (vRAN) pioneer Altiostar, another Rakuten supplier, is working with Robin.io – which provides automated lifecycle tools in the IT market – on containerized RAN (Robin.io is also a partner of another O-RAN supporter, Parallel Wireless). Although Nokia provided the radios for Rakuten’s 4G network (and continues to supply the core, optical transport and managed services), NEC has largely replaced it in…
The pandemic may have distracted attention from the US-China hi-tech trade wars, or even encouraged a spirit of global cooperation, but behind the scenes, the uncertainty about the place of Huawei and ZTE in future 5G build-outs remains unclear, which has a ripple effect for the whole supply chain and for operators’ financial planning. France is the latest European country to allow Chinese vendors to supply at least some 5G equipment, but there are many more decisions to be announced before it will really be clear how far Huawei will play a role in western 5G roll-outs. In the USA, of course, the ban on Chinese equipment in national infrastructure has been in place for over a decade, but smaller…
In the past year, ZTE’s challenges have been overshadowed by those of its larger compatriot, Huawei, but behind the scenes the company is showing strong signs of recovery despite geopolitics. Initially, it was in the USA’s cross-hairs to a greater extent than Huawei. It paid a fine of $1bn in 2017 after it was charged with breaking US sanctions, and in 2018 it was temporarily banned from acquiring US components. The ban was lifted when it paid another $1bn and made other changes, but it had suspended most operations in the meantime, and revealed just how reliant it was on US suppliers (more so than Huawei). But it came back from the brink of collapse remarkably quickly, based on its…
When the USA placed Huawei on its entity list last April, two of the companies which quickly distanced themselves from the vendor were Google and ARM. The former created one of the biggest challenges for the Chinese vendor, which was poised to challenge Samsung to be the world’s largest smartphone supplier, but with a product line that ran Google’s Android operating system. Although Huawei can use the open source version of Android, it can no longer offer Google’s own applications, such as Maps, Search and the Play Store, which outside China are intrinsic to the user experience for many customers. Huawei’s response was to dust off an old project to create its own Linux-based mobile OS and applications and seek…
The USA recently suspended its decision to place Huawei on its entity list for a year, after a series of postponements in enforcing the rules. When a company is on the list, US vendors have to apply for a special licence to trade with them. Many had applied for such licences last year, even though actual enforcement had not started except in limited circumstances, and many had voluntarily cut ties with Huawei (including Google). However, there were complaints that no licences were being issued, causing damaging uncertainty for many US component vendors, some of whom count Huawei as a leading customer. Xilinx, Broadcom and others warned of the potential impact of losing such a prominent customer, though even without the…
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, global trade and technology wars are temporarily taking second place in governments’ thinking worldwide. There are conspiracy theories and nationalistic rhetoric surrounding the virus, of course. But real world, helpful response to the spread of coronavirus requires global resources – international cooperation on vaccines and remedies, of course; but also to share intelligence and best practice on the disease’s behavior. Many of the products in high demand at the front line, such as masks, need to be imported to one country from another, often China. And of course, the ability to support the sudden upturn in working, schooling and entertaining at home relies on telecoms networks founded on global technologies, and enabled by global supply chains.…
Having hosted him on a panel at last year’s Connected World, Riot caught up with Yonomi’s co-founder and CEO, Kent Dickson this week. Founded in 2013, the company is co-headquartered in Austin, TX and Boulder, CO. We spoke to Dickson about his unabashed optimism about the diverse potential of the smart home market, as well getting down into the detail of how Yonomi operates. Yonomi is a smart home integration platform with the mantra of “agnostic interoperability. Our goal is to make it easy for innovators to build great apps that connect with the smart home,” Dickson explained. This view towards open, interoperable smart homes seemed at odds with much of what we have been writing at Riot recently.…
As the idea that telcos could go it alone in the cloud died, so they have become attractive partners for webscalers, and that symbiosis will be stronger in the edge cloud where MNO’s 5G and location assets will carry more weight. Last year, Amazon AWS had seemed the most advanced in cultivating operator partnerships, especially when it signed up Verizon, Vodafone and SK Telecom for its Wavelengths edge program. But Microsoft Azure has been pushing strongly into the telco space too, and late last year, scored a flagship win with AT&T. Google Cloud was the outsider, a smaller cloud business and with only Telecom Italia publicly announced as a tier one telco customer. However, that is changing. Google is reported…
The COVID-19 pandemic took center stage in the mobile industry world when it caused the cancellation of Mobile World Congress, which should have been running three weeks ago. Since then, it has become clear that the industry, like the rest of the global economy, is facing a far bigger threat than the cancellation of one event, however large. With many cities and countries in lockdown; a huge rise in home working; and blanket bans on travel and live events, the whole pattern of working has changed, for now at least. Unlike most industries, there is some upside for telecoms, mainly driven by the increased demand for good connectivity for home workers and for people confined to their homes with Netflix…
Hopefully, this article serves as a summary on where I think I’m leaving things. Of course, I’ll still be available via email, will still be involved in and IoT consulting projects at Rethink, and will be involved in the transition of our IoT coverage areas to the other products – with smart home moving to Faultline, LPWANs and IoT networks heading to Wireless Watch, and the Smart Grid and Utility coverage to be housed inside Rethink Energy. What is notable is that when I first started writing about the IoT, there was too much news. You couldn’t open an inbox without being pummeled by announcements from startups, looking to tackle the new opportunity. As the years passed, however, as it…
We mentioned in February that MHI Vestas would be expanding facilities in Taiwan, as much because this reflects where its next round of order intake is based, but also to offer support for its swamped Chinese operations. MHI Vestas has now followed up with multiple deal announcements – a small one in Japan and a much larger deal in Taiwan – and has begun to reveal how it will meet these requirements. MHI Vestas had already been selected as the preferred supplier for the 300 MW Zhong Neng project in Taiwan, and now it has followed this with a sub-contract to Tien Li. The Zhong Neng Farm is run by a joint venture between China Steel Corporation (CSC) and Copenhagen…
EU policymakers should implement carbon floor prices to stop the coronavirus causing a CO2 price crash. With many now pushing for climate conditions to be attached to stimulus packages, a minimum price for CO2 will be a key part of accelerating the green transition and holding onto the momentum that was present prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The US negotiations for a coronavirus support package have unfortunately managed to avoid this route entirely. While in Europe, some renewables factories are set to reopen for the likes of Vestas, most are ramping down production in the short-term as demand dwindles. The world’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal and Volkswagen are among the largest industrial players scaling back, especially in terms of carbon emissions.…
NAB Show Express – the virtual version of the major Las Vegas TV technology show – is planned for April when the event would normally take place. Vaguely, virtual NAB will “create opportunities for the community to interact virtually,” according to NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. HBO Now viewing has spiked some 40% over the past four weeks. WarnerMedia says the streaming service has seen daily binge viewing rise 65% although the company did not mention anything about an influx of new subscribers. Netflix has said first quarter 2019 subscriber gains could reach 10 million, a whopping 3 million more than its original guidance for the quarter. Stay-at-home syndrome could also see increased uptake of Netflix’s Family Plan, costing…
Local broadcasters and news organizations are experiencing traffic spikes as high as five times the daily average, according to the executive director of non-profit The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, Jim Friedlich. Demand for news and local news in particular has never been higher, yet advertising revenues are being crushed as the lifelines these outlets rely on – like restaurants, bars, sports, the travel industry, and other businesses wholly reliant on being out in public – are forced to close. Rather than resorting to knee-jerk job cuts, these companies should take greater responsibility for their advertising strategies. Now is the time to invest in advanced programmatic advertising platforms and next-generation audience targeting technologies to refine cross-campaign accuracy and efficiency, while making…
After running the headline ‘Delays certain for ATSC 3.0 without NAB pedestal’ a few weeks back, organizing body Pearl TV was quick to get in contact. The company told Faultline that buildouts are currently happening in the top 40 markets, with a bunch of ATSC 3.0 services set to air in April, while compatible TV sets are due to arrive on shelves this month. Pearl TV could not dispute our core point though, conceding that there “might be a bit of delay” – claiming that the shutdown of NAB would be not be a mitigating factor in any such setbacks. Future delays aside, the amalgamation of historic setbacks for ATSC 3.0 have put the technology and all companies involved in…
Ever since the AV1 codec was conceived around 2015 as a successor to VP9, industry experts have been highly skeptical of the technology’s royalty free assurances. Three years later, the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) launched AV1 onto the video scene in disruptive fashion, but it wasn’t long before patent licensing programs emerged on intellectual property management website Sisvel – and in recent weeks that has evolved into a fully-fledged AV1 patent pool. Fundamentally, the building blocks for video have remained the same for three decades; the product of extensive cross-industry collaboration and patent sharing. Such codec R&D does not come investment-free and so hounding the idea of a royalty-free codec was always an almost impossible mission for AOMedia –…
Last week was a tale of solidarity in the communications world with North American operators rallying together in a 60-day grace period to protect subscribers, particularly the most vulnerable. Days later, the US OTT video giants responded to calls from European top dogs by implementing bitrate reductions to alleviate network traffic. End users will hardly notice, but will there be ramifications for the technology distribution chain? Should lockdowns become more stringent in the US, just as they have escalated dramatically in Europe over the past two weeks, then sweeping video bitrate reductions are likely to become commonplace globally. Latin American service providers have already lumped pressure on the streaming majors to commit to bandwidth reductions, while India’s Cellular Operators Association…
It has often been said that human life and civilization will never be the same again after Covid-19. The same was said with varying degrees of truth over previous seismic events with global implications, including the 2008 credit crunch, 9/11 and of course World War 2. All these events had lasting impacts and certainly when life returned entirely to normal after varying lengths of time, it was not quite the same as before. Cultures, attitudes and politics had changed, technologies had advanced, and certain aspects of society had even regressed. It will be some years before the full impacts of Covid-19 can be put into any historical context but, in the case of video streaming, it is possible already to…