In Section 3 of the World Bank’s report on ‘The Role of Mobile Phones in Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction’ statistics are provided on the impact mobile has on rural markets. The research in this report finds that fiber infrastructure directly relates to GDP growth, job creation, productivity, tax revenue as well as social benefits, such as entrepreneurship and job searches, transport and even education, health and disaster relief.  The report outlines the true need and direct measurable benefits of new infrastructure.

The statistics of this report are further supplemented by a recent article in Business Week featuring Alcatel Lucent’s CEO, Ben Verwaayen. The article quotes Verwaayen as saying:

“They (Asia) are building a physical infrastructure that allows people, wherever they are, to participate in the global digital economy. That will give them an enormous advantage in the years to come.”

In essence, Verwaayen states that Asia is ahead of Europe in terms of deploying fiber infrastructure, and therefore has an “enormous advantage in the years to come.” This same statement would be 100% true if the word “Europe” was swapped with “US.” What countries like Asia and Africa realize is that the World Bank report statistics are true, and by building new infrastructure today they are bettering their economies for tomorrow. The US must invest and build fiber infrastructure in the same way to remain a competitive player in the global economy.

Last Wednesday, Sidera Networks and Ciena hosted a webinar about the positive effects technology has on the healthcare industry.
Today’s technology is significantly contributing to improvements in patient care – providing greater access to patient records, higher availability of applications and lower mortality rates in highly wired hospitals.

The “Building Healthcare Networks that Solve Big Data Congestion” webinar provided attendees with insight into the benefits of advanced networks in hospitals along with a real-world example from Elliot Health System, the largest provider of comprehensive healthcare services in Southern New Hampshire.

Key topics included:

• Is your network keeping up with the demands of new medical applications that can quickly congest your organization’s network with large data files?
• Do your future needs require that you adopt advanced electronic medical record archives or to make more network data available to improve diagnosis and patient care?

Featured speakers included Joseph Kestel, Vice President of Relevant C Business Group, Thomas Fairfield, Elliot Health System’s Manager of Technology, Maura Mahoney, Sidera’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development and Ray Patalano, Ciena’s Director of Channel Sales.

To view a replay of the webinar, please visit http://media.beaconlive.com/viewitem?bckt=99836. To learn more about Sidera’s services for the healthcare industry visit http://www.sidera.net/industry-solutions/healthcare.

NeXXCom Wireless, a full service wireless product and system supplier with high packet microwave and millimeter wave solutions that drive next-generation IP networks, is deploying its state of the art ultra-low latency microwave radio technology. This technology  intends to cut more than 3 milliseconds (mS) from major fiber networks on the financial trading path between Chicago and New Jersey.

The increase in speed is expected to be highly beneficial  for financial trading firms. NeXXCom Wireless’ technology is below 10mS round trip today which is a significant improvement for High Frequency Trading. Sal S. Benti, CEO of NeXXCom Wireless notes “There is no way to accurately measure the effect of the speed increase but it has been estimated that each 1mS improvement can be worth $100 million to a financial trading firm. Our client firms are highly secretive about their trading network strategies and given the amount of profits involved, it’s understandable.”

NeXXCom Wireless has recently joined the Dark Fiber Community and will provide knowledge of wireless technology advancements to community members. Allied Fiber CEO and founder of the Dark Fiber Community, Hunter Newby commented “Fiber and microwave compliment each other in many areas including HFT and mobile backhaul for LTE. I suspect that as trading firms learn more about NeXXCom Wireless’ technology they will begin proliferating these ultra low latency networks around the glove in the not distant future to gain competitive advantage.”

For more information, please visit www.nexxcomwireless.com

Hibernia’s recent announcement with Huawei shows that Project Express is underway and taking the necessary steps to complete the cable build. The purpose of Project Express will be to connect London to New York, two of the largest exchanges, with the lowest latency. Announced in 2010, Project Express has made significant strides since then. November 2011 brought on the physical survey where ships surveyed the entire proposed route.

The significance of Hibernia’s latest news with Huawei is that manufacturing of the cable is now underway. With the cable manufacturing underway, the next step will be the installation and delivery of service. Project Express will be an essential key route addition to Hibernia Atlantic’s existing Global Financial Network (GFN), by uniting hundreds of financial exchanges and global banks with a single low latency connection.

For more information on Project Express, visit www.hiberniaatlantic.com.

Zayo will be adding dark fiber to ExteNet Systems Inc.’s open network for a Distributed Network solution. ExteNet designs, builds, owns and operates outdoor and indoor wireless networks for wireless service providers, government agencies, and transportation corridors throughout North America. Zayo will provide a metro dark fiber network in and around Indianapolis preparing ExteNet and its clients for future network growth.

ExteNet will leverage Zayo’s fiber assets to meet the increasing bandwidth demands of its wireless carrier customers. This expansion will also support bandwidth demands anticipated in Indianapolis for upcoming sporting events. With its concentrated metro fiber network within Indiana, Zayo offers capacity and diversity for service providers like ExteNet.

For more information on Zayo, visit www.zayo.com.

This article was originally posted at InternetServiceProviders.org

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve at least heard of SOPA. Detractors have compared the bill to censorship policies in countries such as China, Iran and Syria; the grassroots effort to stop it have been massive. Administrators from some of the largest sites in the world have publicly opposed the measure for many reasons, one of which is that inadvertent violations could sound the death knell for a website. Here are ten of the reasons why violating SOPA could be so easy that a site would be unaware until it was too late.  Fortunately, the SOPA bill is delayed/shelved in Congress right now but it’s still important to remember the impact it could have some day.

1. Vague Language – Though House supporters have claimed that SOPA is designed to protect the intellectual property of Americans from foreign profiteers that illegally distribute content in exchange for advertising and membership revenue, the vague wording of the bill makes it difficult to understand exactly what constitutes a violation and certainly doesn’t offer immunity to inadvertently-offending American sites.
2. User-Submitted Content – If a site allows any sort of user-submitted content to be posted as part of their business model, they could very easily find themselves in violation of the Stop Online Piracy Act. Under the current language of the proposed law, the owner of the site that hosts the content, the user that posts a link to the content and the website that allows the user to submit that link could all potentially be charged with violating the bill.
3. The “Friend-of-a-Friend” Effect – Do you remember when you were a kid, and the friend of a friend did something that got you all in trouble? Maybe you weren’t directly involved, and maybe you didn’t even like that person very much, but your mom still said that you were “guilty by association.” Under SOPA, the same principal applies: even if a link to legitimate and legal content housed on another site is shared, the site that posts the link could be punished if the hosting site is found to house illegal content as well.
4. The Comments Section – One of the quickest ways to lose faith in humanity and the education system is to take a look at the comments section of a YouTube video or comedy article; comments are almost universally inflammatory and poorly spelled, but that’s still legal. Should SOPA pass and one trolling user posts copyrighted material in the comments section, the site would be in violation and could face blacklisting, blocking of revenue and DNS blocking.
5. Banner Ads – Aside from being an irritating part of web-surfing, banner ads are arguably the lifeblood of the internet. Those blinking, shouting, IQ-test-offering bits of space pay for the hosting and maintenance of your favorite sites. Depending on how those ads are distributed, the site admins usually have little to no control over their content. Foreign companies can (and do) use protected images in these sites, which could lead to SOPA complaints for the site that hosts the ad.
6. Fair Use – Copying material that is copyrighted for “transformative” purposes, such as creating a parody, is called “fair use,” and has a precedent of use as a legal defense against infringement claims. SOPA would effectively end the practice of fair use, as investigation of claims isn’t required in the current wording of the bill. Hosting currently-allowed fair use images or content could lead to violation charges.
7. Housing a Discussion Forum – Many websites dedicated to a niche interest or subject also house a forum for users to discussed this shared interest. SOPA would make it almost impossible for sites to allow forums, due to the violating content that many users have in their signatures and avatars. Even if those users never shared a single illegal download link, the site could still be in violation from those avatars and signature panels.
8. VPN Violations – Because the SOPA wording allows culpability to be extended to anyone aiding someone who posts copyrighted material, a web-based company that uses a virtual private network could find themselves facing allegations in the event that another network user shares illegal content.
9. Search Engine Results – Part of SOPA’s line of defense against piracy is to require the blocking of offending sites from search engine results. Should a site that hosts such content slip through the cracks of a search engine site, that search engine could be held liable for violations.
10. Open Source Software – For every expensive piece of software available, there’s a perfectly legal, user-built open source version. Created by users for users, the open source format is one of the great accomplishments made possible by worldwide networking. Companies like Mozilla, whose Firefox browser allows open source plug-ins, have already come under fire for permitting the creation and use of plug-ins that would allow access to sites wrongfully blocked in the event that SOPA passes.

Though there is no question that piracy is a problem that affects the entertainment industry to the tune of millions, SOPA is not the solution. While supporters pay lip-service to the idea of protecting American interests, the bill could potentially crush the internet as a viable source of start-ups and entrepreneurial spirit. The inherent riskiness of any web-based venture in a post-SOPA America would discourage investors from putting money into these ventures.

Zayo has completed the deployment of an Ethernet network for U.S. Electrodynamics, Inc. (USEI) to its Brewster, Washington Teleport facility. USEI delivers its satellite communications services from its satellite uplink facility in Brewster. It provides services for broadcast, government, telecommunications, and enterprise customers.

Growing bandwidth requirements from satellite-delivered content requires uplink facilities like USEI’s to be tied to national fiber networks. Zayo’s Ethernet services are available across its 44,000 mile network. Deployment of Zayo’s Ethernet services at USEI’s Brewster Teleport and the expansion of terrestrial service allows for USEI’s remote station to be available to anyone on-net to Zayo’s network footprint.

For more information on Zayo, please visit www.zayo.com

TELEHOUSE and parent company KDDI recently launched a new Cloud portfolio, Telecloud, leveraging their state-of-the-art data centers and industry expertise. This private cloud solution offers enterprises a dedicated infrastructure platform to reliably host mission-critical applications.  Leveraging TELEHOUSE’s secure colocation and access to low latency, resilient networks, Telecloud can be deployed quickly and is an efficient approach to on-demand IT delivery.

Mr Tokuji Mitsui, Managing Director of KDDI and Telehouse Europe, stated: “Telecloud is a joint venture between two industry leaders. It marks the next stage in the evolution of Europe’s first purpose-built data centre provider and a step forward for the cloud industry. The data centre is at the heart of a cloud solution making the physical infrastructure the integral role in maintaining the reliability and accessibility of a company’s application. That is why the partnership of Telehouse and KDDI brings a new unique perspective to the cloud market.”

With cloud utilization on the rise, this joint venture is perfectly timed to meet the growing demand as companies look for increased IT flexibility and cost-savings.

Behind every cloud is a critical infrastructure – it takes secure colocation, resilient networking options, 24×7 support, and robust virtual security measures.  Telecloud offers a winning cloud combination.

For more information, please read the full announcement here: http://www.realwire.com/releases/KDDI-and-Telehouse-launch-Telecloud

Peering – the exchange of traffic between two networks for reciprocated benefit

Making the business case for peering starts with the fact that one provider will never have all the customers. Through peering, providers, especially those with a limited network footprint, will need to exchange traffic with a provider who has a larger, and perhaps different, footprint. Targeting different customer bases through peering is a great way to expand one’s business.

Through peering, the business also achieves a reduced cost. In lieu of paying transit costs for each packet of data to an Internet destination, a company can peer with networks that reach that destination.

When it comes to peering and capacity, significant amounts of traffic can be passed by distributing traffic across many networks, rather than just going through one network. The business also has increased control, and is able to reduce dependence on one or more transit providers for delivering traffic.

Lastly, a great benefit of peering refers to the increased level of performance, which is attained through direct interconnection to multiple networks, which subsequently allow for more direct paths, and less hops.

So, where can I peer?

Consider TELEHOUSE America’s New York International Internet Exchange (NYIIX). 

Peering with Telehouse America’s International Internet Exchanges allows customers to interconnect to multiple transit providers versus connecting individually, providing dramatic savings while offering enhanced performance.

Customers peering with Telehouse experience powerful network-to-network connections, significant cost savings by averaging down bandwidth fees, optimal primary and secondary IP traffic routing options, and the opportunity to connect to one of the few IX route servers in the United States.

Additionally, customers can cost-effectively interconnect and exchange IP traffic at up to 10 GigE speeds minimizing transit costs, while taking advantage of neutral scalable infrastructure, IPv4 & IPv6 Protocols, guaranteed wire-speed, and route server access.

TELEHOUSE’s NYIIX, the biggest public Internet exchange in the NY Metro Market, is located in the heart of New York City, and has seamless switching fabrics at 85 10th Ave, 25 Broadway, 7 Teleport Drive, 60 Hudson St and 111 8th Ave. Recently in November, NYIIX exceeded the 200Gbps max traffic volume threshold, signifying the leading data center provider’s ability to attract both large ISPs and smaller companies to the exchange. NYIIX is also in the top 10 of the world’s largest peering points, and since its 1996 inception, has become the most popular neutral exchange point in New York, consisting of 146 active peering members from all over the world.

In addition to New York, Telehouse America also offers customers access to peer both publicly and privately on the West Coast, providing connection points in Los Angeles (LAIIX).

Both NYIIX and LAIIX are based on Brocade carrier class and high speed platform. Public and/or private peering via VLAN services are available. Route servers are available at both locations.

Learn more about the incredible opportunities TELEHOUSE has to offer the global community – www.telehouse.com.

EAGLE-Net Alliance has signed an agreement with Zayo expanding EAGLE-Net’s network capabilities in Colorado and Wyoming. EAGLE-Net is a cost-sharing cooperative which provides commodity Internet and advanced education and research networks to Colorado school districts and other community anchor institutions. This expansion includes 511 miles of fiber connecting locations from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Branson, Colorado, near the New Mexico border.

The agreement will help EAGLE-Net fulfill a significant part of the requirements of the $100.6 million Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant that was awarded in September 2010 and is scheduled for completion in August 2013.  Zayo’s network capabilities in Colorado and Wyoming provide the opportunity for EAGLE-Net to reach its goal of connecting 72% of the 234 community anchor institutions throughout the state of Colorado by the end of August 2012.

For more information on Zayo, visit www.zayo.com.