19.10.2009
Deals, Launches and Products
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The following are some recent developments that may be of interest:
- Wireless Power Standards
- Video On Demand Standards
- Global Internet Projections
- Broadband Predictions
- Intel sparked off intense interest in charging a handset wirelessly a year ago when it demonstrated the technology at its 2008 Developer Forum. Since then, the bandwagon has gathered speed, and now Nokia has joined the Wireless Power Consortium, which aims to create an international wireless power standard for rechargeable electronic devices. Other members include Samsung, ST-Ericsson, Texas>, Sanyo, Philips and battery maker Duracell. Founded in December 2008, the Wireless Power Consortium is close to releasing the first full version of its standard. It unveiled the 0.95 technical specification for review by its members in August and began prototype testing last month.
- US cable equipment supplier Arris said this week that its ConvergeMedia Management Suite, previously known as nABLE, can now dynamically manage heterogeneous VoD content across multiple video servers, optimizing network bandwidth and server storage at the same time. This all comes in Management Suite release 1.0, now generally available. The suite also supports dynamic ad insertion and interactivity, and can also use it to support internet streaming to PCs or phones.
- Akamai has issued its 2nd quarter “State of the Internet” report and says the US and China account for 40% of IP connections, and average connection speeds among the top ten countries went down, not up, in the quarter, contrary to expectation. They fell by 11% to 1.5 Mbps. Only 19% of connections globally were over 5 Mbps, a 5% decline from the prior quarter. South Korea had 69% of its connections above 5 Mbps, and in the US New Hampshire had the highest average speed at 6.4 Mbps with Delaware second on 6.3 Mbps. Akamai said there were internet attacks from 201 countries, but that the US and China are still the largest sources of attack traffic, with 45% of the total attacks originating from there.
- Point Topic expects broadband growth to be around 10% over the next 12 to 18 months taking the world past half a billion broadband lines. As availability continues to improve, new markets will offset at least some of the slowdown brought by saturation.