A new report has been recently published on the status of broadband in the United States.   A free download is available for the “Broadband in America 2nd Edition: Where It Is and Where It Is Going (According to Broadband Service Providers).”  Please contact Telecom ThinkTank to get a copy.

This May 2011 report is an Update of the 2009 Report Originally Prepared forthe Staff of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative by Robert C. Atkinson, Ivy E. Schultz, Travis Korte, and Timothy Krompinger.

I attended GOVSEC 2011 in Washington DC last month.  Although the main focus of the event was physical security, with demonstrations of SWAT attack vehicles, firearms and protective clothing, I was interested in learning agencies’ approaches to cybersecurity. I had a few interesting discussions that spurred some thoughts.

I chatted with a few exhibitors that emphasized networks for security information transfer; the access authorizations, controlled entry, the video surveillance images, and the like.  All of the vendors recommended that the transmitted security information be carried on a separate network from other enterprise and agency traffic. These dedicated enterprise security networks, like all networks, were experiencing huge traffic demand increases driven by video. Now, the recommendation to have a distinct network for security traffic could be motivated by an urge to sell dedicated secure network equipment. On the other hand, a dedicated security network could be more difficult to penetrate, at least, for example, by an internal agency IT hack who was angered by his last job review.

I am wondering now if this dedicated network idea could be extended to achieve cybersecurity for enterprise WANS. For example, dedicated enterprise / campus fiber networks connected by dedicated wavelengths over long haul carrier public nets. Of course, the bigger Federal agency networks have been doing similar to this for years, but often over dedicated fiber. But is a wavelength as secure as a dedicated fiber? I expect a wavelength on a shared network to be more secure that a router port, especially since the vast majority of cyber attacks target the upper layers of the application stacks. Also, in the event of a government shutdown of the public internet, a private “wavelength” network may remain operational, or at least come back online more gracefully than that of a “cloud based” network.

Just a few thoughts on how optical design may achieve cybersecurity: I would welcome your comments and clarifications.

Faced with continued high growth in IP traffic, large installed bases of TDM services and ele- ments that are not going away anytime soon, and slow revenue growth overall, operators are wrestling with how best to upgrade their networks to handle their network traffic and service de- mands, while remaining viable and competitive business entities. The core network, in particular, is becoming a key focus area for many operators worldwide, following several years of invest- ments in their access and metro networks.

This white paper assesses the key pain points operators face in the core and provides an over- view of the main architectural options available to them. Specifically, we discuss switched Sonet/ SDH networks (the PMO), integrated optics on core routers (IP over DWDM), and switched OTN networking. Heavy Reading makes the case for switched OTN networking, combined with 40- Gbit/s and 100-Gbit/s transport, as the best architectural approach for operator core network modernization.

Download “Heavy Reading Core Modernization“

Maximizing LTE Benefits Using True Carrier Ethernet® Backhaul

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are evolving their wireless infrastructure to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard that offers low latency and high bandwidth to deliver rich content to smart mobile devices. This paper articulates the challenges and complexities in LTE design with the recommendation
to use Carrier Ethernet-based solutions for backhaul from cell sites to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Backhaul providers can use this approach to scale their networks cost-effectively. Finally, this paper describes Ciena’s solution, which combines True Carrier Ethernet-based cell site demarcation with converged optical Ethernet aggregation to build scalable cost-effective networks.

Download Maximizing LTE Benefits Using True Carrier Ethernet® Backhaul

Photo: Installation of fiber optics internet by Marufish, on Flickr