اخبار دنیای شبکه

[M-r-r]

اینترنت چقدر بزرگ است؟
فناوری - کارشناسان معتقدند نمی*توان حجم واقعی اینترنت را تخمین زد، چراکه هیچ موتور جستجویی قادر به گردآوری تمام این اطلاعات نیست.

تاکنون پیش آمده از خود بپرسید دنیای مجازی چقدر بزرگ است؟ زمانی که جان پلی*فر، دانشمند بزرگ قرن هجدهم به تاریخ*چه طولانی زمین پی برد، گفت: «وقتی انسان به ژرفای زمان فکر می*کند، مغزش از کار می*افتد». اما شاید اگر این دانشمند ژرفای دنیای مجازی و اینترنتی امروز را می*دید، ژرفای زمان را از یاد می*برد و بلایی بدتر بر سر خود می*آورد.

در سال 2005، یعنی چهار سال پیش، گوگل تخمین زد که حدود 5 میلیون ترا بایت اطلاعات درون اینترنت وجود دارد. این بدان معنی است که به ازای هر یک از 4.5 میلیارد باری که زمین به دور خورشید گردیده، 1 گیگا بایت اطلاعات درون اینترنت وجود دارد! اما این تازه اول ماجرا است.

تخمین*های اولیه نشان می*دهد بیش از 1 میلیارد انسان از کامپیوترها و رایانه*های شخصی خود برای اتصال به اینترنت استفاده می*کنند؛ اما به تازگی مشخص شده است که حدود 1 میلیارد انسان دیگر برای حضور در دنیای مجازی از گوشی*های همراه خود سود می*برند. این بدان معنی است که اهمیت کاربران گوشی*های همراه نیز به اندازه دارندگان رایانه*ها است. چه کسی فکرش را می*کرد گوشی همراه، چنین نقش مهمی در زندگی روزمره افراد پیدا کند؟

بهترین تلاش*ها برای تخمین حجم اطلاعات ذخیره شده در اینترنت از سوی موتور جستجوها انجام شده است. تابستان گذشته، پایگاه اینترنتی cuil.com توجه کارشناسان اینترنت را به خود جلب کرد. سازندگان این پایگاه، آن را بزرگ*ترین موتور جستجوی اینترنتی با 120 میلیارد صفحه اینترنتی فهرست*شده معرفی می*کردند؛ اما اندکی پیش*از افتتاح این سایت، گوگل اعلام کرد که سیستم*های جستجویش توانسته*اند تعداد صفحات ذخیره*شده را به یک*هزار میلیارد عدد برسانند.

برای تماشای عکس http://khabaronline.ir/images/2009/5/web3.jpg را کلیک کنید.

با این وجود، کارشناسان مطمئن هستند آمار اعلام*شده از سوی گوگل تنها کسری کوچک از محتوای عظیم درون اینترنت را نشان می*دهد. برخی بررسی*ها نیز پیشنهاد می*دهد حجم واقعی اطلاعات اینترنت صدها و حتی هزاران برابر آن چیزی است که تاکنون در سرورهای گوگل یا کویل فهرست شده است.

اما یک چیز را می*توان مطمئن بود! رشد اینترنت و محتوای آن بسیار سریع است. گوگل تخمین می*زند که هر روز، چند میلیارد صفحه اینترنتی جدید به وب افزوده می*شود. اگر می*خواهید تصوری از این مقدار داشته باشید، به این فکر کنید که در همین اندک زمانی که این مطلب را مطالعه کردید، هفت*صد هزار عنوان جدید به اینترنت افزوده شده است.

نقل مستقیم از : پی سی دانلود : لینکدونی : اینترنت چقدر بزرگ است؟

[M-r-r]

یاهو میل تغییر کرد !
برای شما هم یاهومیل تغییر کرده ؟ من از سرویس Classic استفاده میکنم، باز شدن صفحات شبیه به جیمیل شده؛ سرعت باز شدن هم به نظر من خیلی بهتر از قبل شده؛ دوستان چیزی ندیدن ؟

[M-r-r]

GPS از کار نخواهد افتاد

2 خرداد 1388 - پيش تر اعلام شده بود که سرويس GPS تا سال 2010 به طور کامل از کار مي افتد اما به تازگي اخباري مبني بر نقض اين خبر منتشر شده است.

به گزارش گروه اخبار خارجي موبنا به نقل از تکگيير، اخباري که در اين زمينه منتشر شده بود مبني بر اين قضيه بود که تا سال آينده آمريکا امکان ارايه سرويس موقعيت ياب جهاني را نخواهد داشت زيرا ماهواره اي که اين اطلاعات را از فضا صادر مي کند بايد سه سال پيش نصب مي شد و هزينه اي که براي آن لازم بود بسيار سنگين بود که دولت آمريکا از عهده آن بر نمي آمد.

بر اين اساس پيش بيني مي شود که با از کار افتادن سيستم ماهواره اي سيستم موقعيت ياب جهاني بسياري از فناوري هايي که مرتبط با سرويس GPS کار مي کنند با مشکلات زيادي روبه رو شوند.

اما به تازگي سازمان فضايي آمريکا اين قضيه را نقض کرده و اعلام کرده که اين سرويس به مدت طولاني در دسترس کاربران قرار خواهد داشت.

گفته مي شود سرويس GPS توسط 24 ماهواره در سراسر جهان ارايه مي شود.
سازمان فضايي آمريکا تاکيد کرد که اين سرويس از کار نخواهد افتاد فقط احتمال مي رود که به لحاظ کيفي با مشکلاتي روبه رو شود .

[ARM]

شرکت سيسکو به دنبال گسترش فعاليت هاي خود در اينترنت، نرم افزار آنلاين جديدي روانه بازار مي کند که مي تواند رقيب تازه براي بسته نرم افزاري Office مايکروسافت محسوب شود.
"دوگ دنرلاين"(Doug Dennerline) مدير سيسکو اعلام کرد که شرکت وي سرويس جديدي عرضه مي کند که به کاربران تجاري امکان مي دهد اسناد و فايل هاي مورد نظر خود را در اينترنت ايجاد کرده و آن ها را از طريق سرويس WebEx با ديگر کاربران به اشتراک بگذارند.
نخستين برنامه هاي اينترنتي جايگزين مجموعه نرم افزاري Office، براي نخستين بار حدود پنج سال قبل وارد بازار شد، اما کاربران تجاري و اداري هنوز رغبت چنداني به آن ها نشان نداده اند. شرکت مايکروسافت در آخرين سال مالي خود موفق شد مجموعه نرم افزاري Office را به ارزش 60 ميليارد دلار در سراسر جهان به فروش برساند و بر اين اساس، اگر شرکت هاي رقيب بتوانند نظر کاربران را به خود جلب کنند، درآمدهاي فراواني را به دست خواهند آورد.
شرکت گوگل هم اکنون نرم افزار اينترنتي Google Apps که به عنوان جايگزيني براي مجموعه نرم افزاري Microsoft Office عرضه شده است را همراه با برنامه هاي صفحه گسترده(spreadsheet)، سيستم واژه پرداز Word و برنامه اي اجرايي و نمايشي به فروش مي رساند. شرکت نرم افزاري Adobe Systems و Zoho نيز پيش تر برنامه هاي مشابهي را عرضه کرده اند.
دنرلاين که مديريت مرکز محصولات آنلاين سيسکو را نيز برعهده دارد، اعلام کرد که براي ورود به اين بازار بسيار علاقمند است. او اظهار داشت که شرکت سيسکو با عرضه اين سرويس قصد رقابت با شرکت Salesforce.com را ندارد. اين شرکت ابزارها و برنامه هاي آنلايني را به فروش مي رساند که براي مديريت فروش و بازاريابي مورد استفاده قرار مي گيرد. تحليلگران از قبل اعلام کرده بودند که سيسکو با عرضه اين سرويس جديد، قصد ورود به اين بازار را دارد.

منبع: http://www.reuters.com

[patris1]

Microsoft denies it built 'backdoor' in Windows 7

Nov 19, 2009 03:30 pm | Computerworld
Don't worry, company tells users; NSA involved only in security compliance standards
by Gregg Keizer

Microsoft today denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system.
"Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday.
On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 "to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide."
Echoing earlier concerns, Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), questioned the wisdom of letting the NSA participate in OS development. "The key problem is that NSA has a dual mission, COMPUSEC, computer security, now called cyber security, and SIGINT, signals intelligence, in other words surveillance," Rotenberg said in an e-mail.
Yesterday, he raised the issue, which isn't new, of whether the NSA pressures companies like Microsoft to craft so-called "backdoors" into their code that would let the agency track users and intercept users' communications. Rotenberg called it an "obvious concern," and added that it might be difficult for major software makers to turn down NSA "suggestions" because the U.S. federal government is an important customer.
Today's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. "The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit," said the spokeswoman.
The company rolled out the Windows 7 version of the toolkit late last month, shortly after it officially launched the operating system.
The compliance management toolkit provides a set of security configurations that address additional levels of risks beyond those addressed out of the box, as well as tools to deploy these configurations and monitor what Microsoft calls "configuration drift." The toolkit is aimed at enterprises, government agencies and other large-scale organizations.
Microsoft's rejection of the idea that it's hidden a backdoor in Windows came as no surprise to security researchers, who yesterday expressed doubt that the company would put its reputation at such risk. "I can't imagine NSA and Microsoft would do anything deliberate, because the repercussions would be enormous if they got caught," Roger Thompson, the chief research officer of antivirus vendor AVG Technologies, said yesterday.
John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner Research, agreed. "[The concerns] are way overstated," he said today in an e-mail. "NSA worked with Microsoft and others, like Cisco, on security configuration standards for [their] products.

[patris1]

100G Ethernet cheat sheet

Nov 19, 2009 03:41 pm | Network World by Network World Staff

With enterprises and carriers moving beyond 1G and 10G Ethernet to 40G and 100G Ethernet, we thought it might be handy to bundle up our most recent coverage of high-speed Ethernet in one tidy package.

ARTICLES
100G Ethernet: Bridge to Terabit Ethernet IT managers who are getting started with – or even pushing the limits of -- 10 Gigabit Ethernet in their LANs and data centers won't have to wait long for higher speed connectivity. 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet products are slated to ship by year-end; terabit speeds are anticipated by 2015
10G Ethernet shakes net design to the core Convergence, virtualization and more necessitates a new breed of high-performance, low-latency, non-blocking 10G Ethernet switches now hitting the market. And it won't be long before these 10G switches are upgraded to 40G and 100G Ethernet switches when those IEEE standards are ratified in mid-2010.
Juniper claims first with 100G Ethernet Juniper in June introduced a 100G Ethernet interface for its T1600 core router, which it says is needed due to rapidly increasing network traffic and growth in video communications, advanced wireless services and virtualized cloud computing.
Alcatel to push 100G to carrier edge Alcatel-Lucent plans to ship a router module next year that supports the emerging 100G Ethernet standard at the edge of carrier networks, where services are delivered to subscribers.
Verizon trials 100G Ethernet with UK research net Verizon Business took its next step toward deploying 100Gbps by trialing its 100G optical service with the United Kingdom's national research and education network, JANET. Verizon says it finished the trial in April after it sent 100G signals simultaneously with 10G and 40G optical signals over a 103-kilometer section of its global network located between London and Reading in the United Kingdom.
Qwest upgrading backbone to 100G Qwest has started upgrading its Ethernet backbone to 100Gbps, a project that the company says it will work on all throughout 2010.
Ixia demos 100G Ethernet at Interop Ixia transmitted and received Ethernet traffic at 100Gbps through a CFP Multi-Source Agreement optical module.

BLOGS/OPINION
100G Ethernet races to market Emergence of testing gear from JDSU raises question of whether the market is ready for 100G Ethernet, not just 40G.
Alcatel-Lucent follows Juniper with 100G Ethernet; where's Cisco? Cisco says it is waiting for the standard to be ratified, and for a customer to deploy the technology before announcing. (Comcast tested the interface on the CRS-1.)

[patris1]

Cisco to unleash data center extensions

Feb 05, 2010 01:26 am | Network World
by Jim Duffy

Cisco next week is expected to unveil new and enhanced data center products that are designed to more easily interconnect and allocate resources among multiple data centers and are optimized for cloud computing and virtualization.
The Cisco enhancements extend across the company's Nexus 7000 and Catalyst 6500 and 4900M Ethernet switches as well as its Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) acceleration and Application Control Engine (ACE) load balancing appliances.
Ethernet Switch Cheat Sheet
Front and center is an enhancement to the Nexus 7000's NX-OS operating system called Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV). This is a data center interconnect feature intended to simplify establishment of those links by extending Layer 2 Ethernet LANs across geographically dispersed data centers.
Essentially, OTV performs "MAC routing," Cisco says. OTV encapsulates and tunnels Ethernet through a routed Layer 3 infrastructure to enable multiple dispersed data centers to look like one logical entity. This allows IT administrators to move workloads and virtual machines across data centers without having to redesign or reconfigure their network, Cisco says.
This is important as more enterprises deploy, for example, VMware's VMotion to move data center workloads across long distances for resource allocation or disaster recovery. It requires only four commands per site and can be enabled as a simple overlay over existing Layer 3 networks in just five minutes, Cisco claims.
Other data center interconnect techniques – such as MPLS or dark fiber – require months of design and planning, the company says. But what if a customer already uses MPLS with a Layer 2 tunneling technique such as pseudowires?
OTV may not be needed in those cases, but it still could be used for fault isolation, and for faster, easier establishment of new data center interconnections, Cisco claims. It also alleviates the need to manage a web of individual point-to-point links, the company says.
"The routers do all of the work," says Craig Huitema, Cisco director of marketing for data center solutions.
"In theory, OTV should be a little simpler because I believe all you're doing is an overlay that keeps the architecture of the original network the same," says Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with the Yankee Group. "With pseudowire, it requires some re-architecting of the network. You're essentially redesigning the network with pseudowire. You're still ripping stuff out, redesigning. And pseudowires are typically at the very high-end of the enterprise and service provider networks. This is a solution for the masses."
OTV also includes resiliency features such as multi-pathing, multi-homing and loop prevention, and it suppresses flooding of unknown Layer 2 traffic and spanning tree packets, Cisco says. This helps ensure that failures such as broadcast storms or spanning-tree loops in one data center are contained and do not propagate to other data centers, the company says.

[patris1]

YouTube confirms IPv6 support

Feb 05, 2010 08:42 pm | Network World
by Carolyn Duffy Marsan

YouTube confirmed that it now supports IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol, in a blog post published Friday.
"We're proud to make YouTube available over IPv6 and to begin streaming videos from a select number of sites worldwide to our Google over IPv6 partners," wrote Lorenzo Colitti, a Google network engineer. "With YouTube on board, we now have a significant amount of content delivered on IPv6 and a real audience/traffic for it."
IPv6: The essential guide
Earlier in the week, ISPs guessed that YouTube had begun production-level support for IPv6 because they saw a huge surge of IPv6 traffic leaving YouTube's data centers worldwide.
In his blog post, Colitti said support of IPv6 was necessary to allow more people and devices to attach directly to the Internet.
IPv6 is "a win for openness and new applications because any device can connect to any other device on the Internet," Colitti wrote. "It's even a win for security, because it's harder for hackers to find your computer and attack it."
The Internet is running out of addresses using the current version of the Internet Protocol, known as IPv4. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support approximately 4.3 billion devices.
More than 90% of IPv4 addresses have already been assigned. The conventional wisdom of the Internet industry is that the rest of the IPv4 addresses will be allocated in 2012.
That's why Web sites like YouTube are upgrading to IPv6. With 128-bit addresses, IPv6 can support so many devices that only a mathematical expression -- 2 to the 128th power -- can quantify its size.
In order to use YouTube's new IPv6 service, users will need an IPv6 connection from their ISPs.
More IPv6 connections should be available to U.S. consumers soon, given that Comcast recently announced a series of IPv6 trials.
Google is a leader in IPv6 deployment, having already IPv6-enabled its Search, Alerts, Docs, Finance, Gmail, Health, iGoogle, News, Reader, Picasa, Maps, Wave, Chrome and Android products.
Other popular Web sites – including Facebook, Yahoo and eBay – are committed to deploying IPv6 within the next 18 months.
Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.

[patris1]

Microsoft to drop Linux, Unix versions of enterprise search

Feb 05, 2010 03:14 pm | IDG News Service
The move is a reversal of an earlier pledge from Redmond
by Chris Kanaracus

Microsoft will no longer offer Linux or Unix versions of its enterprise search products after a wave of releases set to ship in the first half of this year, the company announced in an official blog post Thursday.
After Microsoft bought Fast Search & Transfer in 2008, it said it would continue offering and updating standalone versions of the company's ESP platform for Linux and Unix, wrote Bjorn Olstad, CTO for Fast and a Microsoft distinguished engineer. "Over the last two years, we’ve done just that."
But the products being released this year will be the last containing a search core compatible with Linux and Unix, he said.
There is logic behind Microsoft's decision, according to Olstad.
"Although I understand that focusing on Windows will be a hard change for some of our customers, I’m convinced that it’s the right thing to do because it will accelerate our rate of innovation," he wrote.
Microsoft is trying to make the move easier on affected customers, Olstad added.
"We will always interoperate with non-Windows systems on both the front- and back-end. Our search solutions will crawl and index content stored on Windows, Linux, and Unix systems, and our UI controls will work with UI frameworks running on any operating system," he stated.
In addition, it will support ESP 5.3, the search core for the products that will be released this year, for 10 years. Customers who decide to keep running the core on Unix or Linux can "add Windows-only innovations or cloud-based services by using a mixed-platform architecture," he said.
Microsoft is also rolling out an "upgrade program" that will "help customers evaluate our hosted solutions and/or a Windows-based deployment."
However, "there’s no immediate action required as a result of this announcement—and I expect that most of you will stay with your current deployments for some time," Olstad added.
A significant number of customers are running Fast on Linux or Unix, according to Jared Spataro, director of enterprise search at Microsoft. He declined to provide specific figures.
Microsoft made the announcement now in order to give those users plenty of time to prepare, he said.
Still, Microsoft's move came as a surprise to Gartner analyst Whit Andrews.
"I honestly thought ... that in order to continue to win and execute the most visionary installations, they would need to continue to support Linux," Andrews said.
Microsoft's promises of continued interoperability offer some comfort, he said. "This doesn't mean Microsoft is casting out Linux users from their customer base. There will be people running Fast on Linux right out to the 10-year limit."Meanwhile, Microsoft's announcement raises another question: whether it will continue offering a standalone search product for the long term, given its moves to align the Fast technology with its SharePoint collaboration platform.
There are no plans at this time to drop a standalone version, although Microsoft doesn't tend to "project out any further than one product wave," Spataro said. "When we look at any strategy, we really are looking at market demand. [Right now] we certainly hear there's a need for a standalone version."

[patris1]

Facebook's photo uploader gets an overhaul too


Hot on the heels of a visual face-lift, Facebook on Friday announced that the prototype version of its photo uploader, which was introduced in mid-November of last year, will soon be rolling out to all users.
Unlike the existing version of Facebook's photo uploader, the new uploader requires the installation of a browser plug-in. This inconvenience is rewarded with the option to leave Facebook entirely, while the photos continue to upload in the background. Previously, users would have had to leave that window or page running while the uploader did its magic.
Facebook says the new uploader will be in your hands soon.
(Credit: Facebook)
Facebook also said the new uploader supports a few extra photo formats, though it did not specify which ones. The company has, for some time now, had unofficial support for a handful of alternate formats, including raw images. However, on its official spec sheet the company says only .jpg, .gif, .bmp, and .png files will work.
Facebook currently gets 2.5 billion photo uploads per month. To put that in perspective, the company hit the 10 billion mark in October of 2008, a whole three years after first introducing the photo-sharing feature in 2005. In other words, any small change that makes it easier for people to get their photos onto the social network could end up having a big effect on how fast Facebook's photo collection will continue to grow.
If you can't wait for Facebook to activate the uploader on your account, you can do it yourself. Just head over to Facebook's prototype page, and turn it on.

[patris1]

Microsoft talks Office 2011

Feb 11, 2010 07:03 pm | Macworld.com
by Rob Griffiths

On Thursday, Microsoft took the wraps off the next version of Office for the Mac. After announcing new compatibility, collaboration, and user interface features to the world, Eric Wilfrid, the general manager of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, stops by the Macworld Podcast booth to talk about Office for Mac 2011.
• AAC version (9.3 MB, 10 minutes)
• MP3 version (9.1 MB, 10 minutes)
Show Notes
You can get an overview of what's new in Office 2011 as part of our ongoing Macworld Expo coverage. But my conversation with Eric Wilfrid touches on the user experience with the new version of Office, the changes planned for Outlook (which Microsoft first discussed last August, and the suite's new online collaboration features.
Look for Office 2011 to be on retail shelves later this year in time for the holiday season.
You can find previous episodes of our audio podcasts at Macworld's podcasting page.
Got any feedback on this podcast? Send regular podcast host Christopher Breen an e-mail; audio comments in the form of an AAC or MP3 file are particularly welcome. You can also leave us a message at 415/520-9761 if you'd like to have your comments included in a future podcast.
To subscribe to the Macworld Podcast via iTunes 4.9 or later, simply click here. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: Macworld Podcast

[patris1]

Microsoft gives a glimpse of Windows 8

Feb 11, 2010 06:02 pm | InfoWorld
A cached version of a blog post on MSDN says to expect the unexpected from the next version of the Windows OS
by Paul Krill

Windows 8, the theoretical next version of Microsoft's ubiquitous OS, will be different from what has been expected of the platform, according to a cached version of a Microsoft blog post.
The Google-cached version of a January 31 blog on MSDN, entitled, "What's in store for the next Windows?" provided a limited glimpse of what to expect. The OS also was referred to as Windows.next.
[ InfoWorld columnist Randall C. Kennedy offered up predictions on Windows 8 last year. ]
"The minimum that folks can take for granted is that the next version will be something completely different from what folks usually expect of Windows -- I am simply impressed with the process that Steven [Sinofsky, president of the Microsoft Windows and Windows Live Division] has set up to listen to our customers needs and wants and get a team together than can make it happen," the post, from a member of the Windows update team, said.
"To actually bring together dozens and dozens of teams across Microsoft to come up with a vision for Windows.next is a process that is surreal! The themes that have been floated truly reflect what people have been looking for years and it will change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them. It is the future of PCs," the blogger said.
Microsoft shipped Windows 7 in October.
A Microsoft executive at the Microsoft Global High-Tech Summit 2010 meeting in Santa Clara, Calif. on Thursday was unfamiliar with the blog. "I don't know what the blog entails, but I am certain we're continuously innovating [with] with Windows," said Drew Gude, director of US High Tech & Electronics at Microsoft.
This story, "Microsoft gives a glimpse of Windows 8," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in Microsoft Windows at InfoWorld.com.
Read more about windows in InfoWorld's Windows Channel.

[patris1]

Intel to release storage-specific 'Jasper Forest' chip

Feb 11, 2010 05:56 pm | Computerworld
by Lucas Mearian

At the request of Computerworld the story headlined "Intel to release storage-specific 'Jasper Forest' chip," posted Feb. 11, has been removed from the wire. Online editors are asked to immediately remove the story from Web sites and print editors are asked to not use the story in future editions. Questions regarding the story should be directed to Ken Mingis at Computerworld.

[patris1]

Google Gigabit Broadband: Progress vs. Profits

Feb 11, 2010 09:55 am | PC World
Google announced plans to test broadband speeds up to 100 times faster than current standards
by Tony Bradley

Google announced plans yesterday to test out ultrafast gigabit broadband in limited markets. However, that doesn't mean Google is entering yet another highly competitive industry (at least not yet). The intended audiences for the tests are the broadband providers and their subscribers.
The goal is for Google to demonstrate what is possible. By choosing some test markets and implementing broadband 100 times faster than that being delivered by most broadband providers currently, Google can prove that it's possible, and back it up with real-world results and project costs.
In theory, broadband providers like Comcast and AT&T are already aware of what is possible. But, broadband providers are interested in what's profitable more than what's possible. At the end of the day, Comcast and AT&T executives answer to shareholders more than customers, and they don't answer to Google at all.
As it is, Comcast and AT&T don't just deliver the fastest possible speeds to all customers. Each offers a range of service plans, with varying download and upload speeds, that all work over the same wires with the same hardware. If you want the maximum speed, you are going to have to pay--a lot--for that maximum speed.
Comcast has already pushed its maximum broadband speed from 1.5 Mbps in 2002, to 50 Mbps in most markets today. A recent Comcast blog post details plans to implement new XFINITY technology that will raise the maximum speed to 100 Mbps or higher. Of course, even if Comcast doubles its current speed and implements XFINITY, it will still only be delivering one tenth of the broadband speed proposed by Google.
From a user perspective, satisfaction with Internet connection speed is relative. Long after DSL and cable broadband were available, many users were still happily dialing in with 56k modems. Happy, that is, until they visited a friend or relative with broadband and saw what was possible.
Business customers may be perfectly satisfied with current mid-range offerings from Comcast and AT&T. Broadband speeds of 6 Mbps, or 12 Mbps are just fine for many business purposes. However, needs change and technology evolves. Businesses that need to transfer large files or perform real-time video streaming might be frustrated with speeds twice that fast.
There is also the fact that the size of the pipe isn't the only consideration. Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n wireless (600 Mbps) are emerging standards, but most users--both consumer and business--still rely on 100 Mbps Ethernet and the more common 802.11g wireless (54 Mbps). If the data maxes out at 54 Mbps inside your network, the benefits of a broadband pipeline twice, or twenty times that bandwidth will be handicapped.

[patris1]

AT&T forges 4G rollout with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson

Feb 10, 2010 01:14 pm | Network World
by Brad Reed

AT&T took a big step forward in its plan to deploy Long Term Evolution technology by selecting Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as its LTE equipment vendors.
Don't expect fireworks from LTE in 2010
AT&T is planning to conduct trial runs of LTE later this year and to commercially launch its LTE network sometime in 2011. The carrier says that Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson will be the main suppliers for its Radio Access Network Domain and that their equipment will be deployed at cell sites along AT&T's current network.
But while AT&T has begun preparing for the launch of its 4G network next year, the company has also been aggressively promoting upgrades to its current 3G HSPA network. AT&T says that a big part of its wireless network upgrade will come through its transition to HSPA 7.2 technology that the company expects will cover 90% of its 3G network by the end of 2011. HSPA 7.2 is a variation of the GSM-based HSPA technology that has a peak speed of 7.2Mbps, although AT&T cautions that most users are unlikely to see data rates approaching theoretical peak speeds.
In addition to switching its 3G network to HSPA 7.2, AT&T is also hoping to boost network capacity by utilizing more spectrum on the 850MHz band. The company is hoping that deploying its 3G network over the 850MHz spectrum will solve some of the big capacity and propagation problems it has encountered in major markets such as New York and San Francisco.
Rival carrier Verizon is expected to be the first U.S. carrier to commercially deploy LTE, as it plans to launch 4G services in about 30 major markets in the United States throughout 2010. Verizon late last year started trialing LTE in both Boston and Seattle, and in its initial trials with partner Vodafone, Verizon has achieved peak speeds of 60Mbps on its LTE network.