The University of New Hampshire’s Broadband Center of Excellence (BCoE) wishes our readers and contributors a very merry Christmas and happy and prosperous New Year. We conclude the year on an encouraging high note for TV White Space (TVWS) which has gained some momentum since mid-year. We continue to believe this technology, with support from large corporations, could represent the best chance for deploying universally available broadband. But lots more work needs to be done on development, standardization and ultimately creation of affordable hardware.

Hello,

You may not realize this, but we recently passed the 45th anniversary for the first cell phone call and for the creation of ethernet. Both these developments have had incredible impacts on our civilization and have led to the creation of major industries. Telecom services have greatly advanced.

IEEE 802 LAN/WAN Standards Committee had a productive meeting in Pittsburgh recently and my colleague Paul Nikolich, its Chairman and an IEEE fellow, reports on recent forward-thinking activities of the committee regarding wired and wireless automotive networking.  Read More

Hello,

There have been some interesting developments of late, as well as discoveries on new networking ideas so I began to think, futuristically:  What If…

A new networking concept called Super-PON is a success?

What is the Super-PON proposal that was discussed at the recently completed IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Interim Session? For one it has the possibility to revolutionize our broadband infrastructure to support the ever -increasing communication and streaming needs of our populace. Read More....

Hello,

I am not surprised by the news last month that the FCC will do away with net neutrality at a meeting in mid-December, giving incumbent ISPs such as telcos and cable operators a nice Christmas present for this year. Rather than a gift, it seems to me like its coal in the stocking for up-and-coming entrepreneurs and businesses who may lack the clout to potentially have to buy their way into what could become the next pay-per-play communications environment. We have a brief report on the anticipated vote below, with a link to some extensive BCoE work we reported on in July.

On a more positive note, my colleague Paul Nikolich continues to report progress from the IEEE community as it churns ahead on important standards for next gen networks.

Thank you all for your time spent reading our newsletter and your comments this year. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2018.

After reading the ITU report on the State of Broadband 2017 I have mixed feelings about our global broadband usage. On the one hand,more people are on broadband networks, ITU says. But then again billions more are not. There are a variety of reasons offered in the report, but that's a lot of people off the net.  Obvioulsy more work needs to be done to broaden the reach of this important utility.

Myth or Reality of Municipal Broadband Network!

Ther has been more discussion of hte validity, or lack thereof, of municipalities building broadband networks by our communities across the USA.  More towns and local governments appear to be studying such endeavors as they see the economic and social value that is supported by more ubiquitous and affordable Internet access.

The phrase $10 billion investmet is an eyecatcher.

It caught my attention when Microsoft announced it could spend up to that amount on developing and deploying TV White Space over the  next few years.  BCoE has worked hard over the recent past with an eye toward helping entrepeneurs begin deploying TVWS systems that enjoy reasonably priced equipment - as we did for broadband and its cable modems. What follows is a snapshot of our TVWS efforts, along with some interesting reports by my colleague Paul Nikolich from his recent IEEE meetings on 802 standards efforts in Berlin.

It is safe to say that this Q2 of 2017 has been one of the more interseting periods of time in the broadband Internt space in our world.  I have been foucsed on these activities, particularly as they occur in Washington, D.C.  This edition of the newsletter provides a non -biased assessment of the pros and cons of the net neutrality rules put  in place by the previous administration with the intent of establishing a baseline for analysis of new rules that will soon be upon us.

Our first quarter of 2017 has contained some twists and turns, some in politics and others in industry, including within the broadband world.  As we touched upon in our February issue, connected cars remain a hot spot with Intel announcing in mid-March a deal to spend $15B TO BUY a company called Mobileye.  We, on the other hand,turn our eyes to new topics this month. 

Hello,

As you read in our UNH BCoE January newsletter, CES was a hotbed of interest in connected and autonomous cars. The IEEE and its 802 standards body that my colleague and IEEE Fellow Paul Nikolich chairs jump started these activities almost 4 years ago, and while I was at CES, he was working with engineers and colleagues from around the world to develop in-car networking standards.

The ITU/UN issued its 2016 annual "State of Broadband" report in mid-September and it shows that the poorer the country, the more it lurches slowly forward, toward ganining universal broadband availability. ITU says 3.9 billion people will still be offline a the end of this year, but ITU also notes that there's been an approximate 10% growth in the number of Internet users over 2015, to 3.5B.

The BCoE at the University of New Hampshire is an unbiased resource for government, universities, researchers, communities and corporations providing factual information about broadband. A gift from the YAS Foundation supports innovations in the field of broadband technology and application.  These funds are directed at projects and programs at UNH that support BCoE’s key areas of focus