Day: December 24, 2014

Python, Puppet, Chef, ONIE and ODM – New Terms for the Service Provider Equipment World?

by Glen Hunt, posted in Net Transformation, SDN/NFV
Glenn Hunt
Glenn Hunt

Summary Bullets:

  • IT and network jargon begins to co-mingle, but is this bilateral cross-pollination or one-sided?
  • Who’s courting who in the mashing together of the network, data center and cloud?

Over the past few months, it has become apparent that service providers, as a group, have nearly all endorsed the idea of transforming their networks in order to capture the benefits of a more agile and flexible platform from which they could provide XaaS (anything as a service). One of the initial barriers, which still remains, is the obvious disconnect between the terminology used by the network folks and their counterparts in the IT world to accomplish similar functions – like programming languages and installation processes. Continue reading “Python, Puppet, Chef, ONIE and ODM – New Terms for the Service Provider Equipment World?” →

HKT Vectors Across a Digital Divide in Hong Kong

by Erik Keith, posted in Ultra Broadband
Erik Keith
Erik Keith

Summary Bullets:

  • Hong Kong Telecom, which serves over 500,000 customers with FTTH connections, is now deploying VDSL2 vectoring technology to address previously underserved broadband subscribers, and will leverage G.fast for further bandwidth/service upgrades.
  • Even in one of the highest-density cities in the world, with pervasive fiber, copper remains relevant, with VDSL2 vectoring enabling fiber-speed services where FTTH implementations are not feasible or cost-effective.

Hong Kong, as one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, as well as one of only 10 Alpha+/++ cities (centers of global finance and trade), has been a long-time poster child for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services. With more than seven million people living in a geographic area of just over 1,100 square kilometers (426 square miles), Hong Kong’s population density ranks behind only Macau, Monaco and Singapore. For clarification, there are dozens of cities worldwide that are more densely populated than Hong Kong (at least 15 in India, and 10 in the Philippines), but Hong Kong’s population is clustered into some extremely high-density areas including Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, which was once the home of a Walled City where 33,000 people lived in an area the size of one city block (see here).

Getting back to the plot… Continue reading “HKT Vectors Across a Digital Divide in Hong Kong” →