Bill-and-keep is not an appropriate compensation mechanism for SDN Communications, the telecom company told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/HMSCmt). Bill-and-keep is inappropriate because the company “does not have end users and it does not receive any federal or state universal service support,” it said. SDN is a South Dakota centralized equal access provider and tandem transit provider. The company’s network provides “efficient connections to rural markets” in the state, it said in a presentation (http://bit.ly/HMSC5W).
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Spectrum sharing between commercial and federal users is critical, but the big emerging theme is that industry needs “certainty” and more work must be done on licensed sharing, said spectrum panelists from high-technology companies at the Telecommunications Industry Association’s annual show Wednesday. Sharing has been the Obama administration’s big spectrum focus.
Software defined networking in mobile backhaul networks can save mobile operators more than $4 billion in capital expenses by 2017, said a Strategy Analytics study sponsored by Tellabs released Thursday (http://prn.to/17mk3g4). The study said SDN has the most impact in metropolitan aggregation/load redistribution, local breakout/Internet interexchange, small cells, cloud radio access network and Wi-Fi offload/video redirect, with metro aggregation/load redistribution contributing the most savings from $96 million to $1.1 billion from 2013 to 2017. The Asia-Pacific region faces the most significant backhaul funding shortfall, but will also be most likely to benefit from SDN, with capital expense savings at $2.66 billion in the region by 2017, the study said.
Intelsat hasn’t restored service to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) after meeting this week with IRIB, the State Department and International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, ITSO said. Intelsat stopped transmitting broadcasts for IRIB this month to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, which imposes sanctions on IRIB (CD July 2 p12). Intelsat, IRIB and the State Department agreed to exchange further correspondence over the coming weeks, “but at this point in time there hasn’t been a decision regarding restoration of service,” said Patrick Masambu, ITSO deputy managing general. The meeting was an initial discussion, “in the context of the ITSO agreement, concerning the expiration of Intelsat’s license to broadcast for IRIB as a result of placement of IRIB on the U.S. Treasury Department’s specially designated nationals list,” said a State Department official. Iran and the U.S. are parties to the ITSO Agreement, which ensures that satellite communications are available on a global and non-discriminatory basis, the official said. The sanction isn’t focused on the Iranian broadcast sector generally, the official said: The non-renewal of Intelsat’s license for IRIB “holds accountable a specific Iranian entity used by the regime as an instrument of repression and intimidation.”
Software-defined network (SDN) and large-scale network virtualization will combine to drive a more software-centric and programmable telecom infrastructure and services ecosystem, research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) said Thursday. Both technologies will have a “sustained impact” on current communication service providers, IDC said. “Rapid global growth of data and video traffic across all networks, the increasing use of public and private cloud services, and the desire from consumers and enterprises for faster, more agile service and application delivery are driving the telecom markets toward an inevitable era of network virtualization,” said Nav Chander, IDC’s research manager-Telecom Services and Network Infrastructure. CSP networking of large data centers will be the first battleground for SDN because it will be driven by requirements for hyperscale networked data centers like the ones being built by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Rackspace, IDC said (http://bit.ly/Z31Myd).
Microwave radio frequency device distributor Dal-Tech Devices agreed to pay $10,000 to settle potential civil liability for “apparent violations” of the U.S.’s Iranian Transactions Regulations, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Friday. Dal-Tech’s prior owners and management apparently violated the regulations by making an unlicensed sale and shipping $3,226-worth of radio frequency management devices to Austria, with knowledge that they would be shipped on to Iran, OFAC said. When the devices were returned without being delivered, Dal-Tech re-exported them to Iran via Slovenia, OFAC said. Since Dal-Tech did not voluntarily disclose the matter to OFAC, it constitutes “an egregious case,” OFAC said. “Dal-Tech’s prior management at least had reason to know that the company’s goods were ultimately destined for Iran.” Dal-Tech had not been the subject of previous OFAC enforcement action. The OFAC settlement coincides with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the office of the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, OFAC said (http://1.usa.gov/UB2QZa).
Software-defined networking (SDN) will be the catalyst for enabling more flexible, scalable and intelligent networks in the future, research firm Ovum said Thursday in a new report. SDN will replace traditional network hierarchies that are struggling to keep pace with increasingly dynamic applications and services, Ovum said. The current three-tier hierarchy -- access, aggregation and core -- is being phased out; SDN’s flatter architecture, virtualized application software and more programmable network infrastructure are taking its place, Ovum said. “SDN provides an opportunity to completely reexamine network architectures, introduce virtualization, and provide truly innovative solutions,” said David Krozier, principal analyst on Ovum’s network infrastructure telecoms team, in a news release. SDN’s emergence shows the focus of networking has shifted from the “feeds and speeds of the data plane to the intelligence inherent in the control plane and related network services,” Ovum said.
An ITU-T study group on future networks will “expand and accelerate” its work on software-defined networking (SDN), said an ITU blog post from the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, referring to preliminary agreement on a new resolution (http://bit.ly/ToyB4U). Networks have become increasingly complex, error-prone and difficult to manage as new devices and users have connected and boosted traffic figures, it said. SDN proposes to decouple the control and data planes and let software boost speed and flexibility in routing, security and energy management of network gear, such as routers and switches, it said. High-level industry representatives last week recommended ITU-T collaborate with academia, groups like the Open Networking Foundation and others, it said. They also suggested ITU-T conduct studies into the impact of SDN for developing countries, it said.
There will be a competitive wholesale rural telecom market “you have never seen before” in a few years, enabled by NTIA’s middle-mile stimulus funding, said Joe Freddoso, president of MCNC, a North Carolina provider. MCNC received stimulus funds to deploy and upgrade 2,600 miles of fiber in rural areas across the state. Communities need to be realistic, Freddoso said Tuesday at a State of the Net panel with NTIA’s grantees. They can never rely on the incumbent carriers to build in the most rural areas, he said. It’s critical to invest in rural middle-mile infrastructure that allows small and rural companies to build on, he said. And helping low-income communities understand affordability is important, said Susan Walters, senior vice president with California Emerging Technology Fund. “Affordability is a package that you have to unbundle with the communities.” The package includes helping people understand what the current price is and cost savings available, she said. Regarding BTOP progress, Mark Shlanta, CEO of SDN Communications, said the company’s South Dakota BTOP project has completed 81 percent of the estimated 359 miles of fiber. SDN, which has until the end of the year to connect 305 sites in over 70 communities, has completed builds to over 229 locations, he said. “We are on time and on budget.” Freddoso said the MCNC North Carolina project is about nine months ahead of schedule. The project received funds in both rounds of funding. Half of the first round build is in service, Freddoso said. Since the start of Philadelphia’s computer centers across the city, usership has been “overwhelming,” said Andrew Buss, director of public programs with Philadelphia Office of Innovation & Technology. The city has staff at all of the 77 computer centers to offer on-site support, he said.
The deployment of stimulus-funded broadband networks and international events like Japan’s earthquake are tightening the fiber cable market, causing some delays in fiber delivery, officials and companies said. But many stimulus projects are moving forward. Some are even ahead of schedule.