The Internet of Things (IoT) explained along with ARM’s role in making it happen!

The Internet of Things (IoT) is about embedding communications technology in all objects that can benefit from it, from cars to buildings, everyday objects and even materials.  It’s an ongoing revolution that has much potential and promise to revolutionize the electronics industry.  Advances in making smaller microelectronics devices, sensors and low-power radio communications, are making the IoT a commercial reality.  Google’s $3.2B acquisition of smart thermostat makerNest is a great example of that dynamic as per this article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2014/01/13/google-acquires-nest-for-3-2-billion/

On February 20th, Zach Shelby -Director of IoT technology at ARM Ltd, presented an interesting talk on the IoT at a Santa Clara University (SCU) EE Dept Colloquium. Zach was co-founder and head of research at Sensinode in Finland before that company was acquired last fall by ARM Ltd.  As a result of that acquisition, Zach now works at ARM’s San Jose, CA office as an IoT evangelist and technology director.   Here are the highlights of his SCU talk:

  • IoT combines embedded electronic devices with the Internet mostly using low power wireless interfaces.
  • Machine to Machine (M2M) applications when combined with the Internet (either directly or indirectly connected devices) comprise the IoTs.
  • M2M apps include:  asset management, facility management, security monitoring, energy management, weather stations, etc
  • IoT produces Little Data (in contrast to Big Data/analytics) via small streams of data.
  • IoT breaks down silos or walled gardens of closed systems
  • Gartner Group predicts that by 2018, 50% of IoT solutions will be from start-ups <3 years old.  
  • IoT is a disruptive technology as it changes the way “things” (devices) are made.
  • Some key markets for IoT include-Smart Home, Smart Cities, Fitness/exercise equipment, and Asset Management
  • ARM Ltd is working on a lot of software to make the IoT a commercial reality. For example, a Development Platform for Devices is available at:https://mbed.org/
  • ARM has developed wireless communications I/O drivers for LTE and WiFi endpoints that are not VLSI component specific.The company supports Java ME as well as JAVA script on its software development platformLocal Processing, Security, communications, discovery and end to end device management are included in ARM’s IoT architecture.

 

Reference:
http://www.ee.scu.edu/classes/2014winter/elen200/shelby.pdf


Samsung creates medical test bed to prove Internet of Things is worth the effort

The partnership between Samsung and the University of California, San Francisco sets out with a single goal: to develop a test bed for medical sensors in efforts to validate the worth of emerging Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technologies, otherwise known as the Internet of Things. 

The South Korean giant’s joint project with medical professionals will work to develop network-connected sensors for gadgets, signalling a divergence in the company’s strategy by focusing on health and the wider medical world.

http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-creates-medical-test-bed-to-prove-internet-…


Cisco CEO: 2014 will be a big year for the Internet of Things -will be worth $19Trillion over next 10 years!

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers says the Internet of Things could represent $19 trillion of economic value over the next 10 years, and will affect society more than the Internet itself. Chambers says this year could be a turning point as more devices become connected, and that he expects there to be 50 billion Internet-connected devices by 2020.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress trade show, Chambers said that the Internet of things will potentially have five to ten times the impact on society over the Internet itself.

As an illustration of the growth of connected devices, Chambers noted that there were only 1,000 devices connected to the Internet when Cisco was created in 1984. There were more than 10 billion connected devices in 2010, and they outnumber the actual number of people now. By 2020, Chambers said he expects to see 50 billion devices connected to the Internet. 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57619548-94/how-much-is-the-internet-of-everything-worth-cisco-says-$19-trillion/

Optical Network Equipment Spending flat in 4Q13 as North America sags and EMEA surges!

Infonetics Research released vendor market share and preliminary analysis from its 4th quarter 2013 (4Q13) and year end Optical Network Hardware report. (Full report to be published by February 24.)

OPTICAL MARKET HIGHLIGHTS:
.    Worldwide optical network hardware revenue, including WDM and SONET/SDH, was essentially flat in 4Q13, totaling $3.1 billion
.    For the full year 2013, the overall optical network hardware market is down 3%
.    On a positive note, the WDM segment posted a 6th consecutive quarter of growth in 4Q13 and ended the full year 2013 up 11% as 100G deployments hit the ground
.    Though the traditional 4Q capex flush was in full effect in EMEA, the region recorded a 5th straight year of spending declines; Infonetics expects EMEA to revert back to being a third of global spending within 1-2 years
.    The Chinese optical market closed 2013 up only 6%, but performance is anticipated to improve in 2014 as 100G rollouts pick up steam
.    EMEA optical heavyweights Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Coriant, and Huawei all had a big 4Q13

ANALYST NOTE
“Optical spending flattened in the fourth quarter of 2013, though it wasn’t distributed evenly around the world or by vendor. Weakness was concentrated in North America, but a year-end capex surge in EMEA evened things up,” notes Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

Schmitt adds: “All indications are that an all-clear from Verizon and AT&T is forthcoming and the Q4 drop was a pause rather than a reversal – and this is in line with our forecasts.” 

ABOUT THE OPTICAL REPORT:
Infonetics’ quarterly optical hardware report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for metro and long haul SONET/SDH and WDM equipment, Ethernet optical ports, SONET/SDH/POS ports, and WDM ports. Vendors tracked: Adva, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cisco, Cyan, ECI, Fujitsu, Huawei, Infinera, NEC, Coriant, Tellabs, Transmode, Tyco Telecom, ZTE, and others. To buy the report, contact Infonetics: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.

RELATED REPORT EXCERPTS:
.    Operators answer the big questions about metro 100G and ROADM deployments
.    Pricing pressures drive down ROADM component market in first half of 2013
.    Carriers dialing back spending on optical equipment; WDM segment outpaces the market

 

Note the steep decline in N America & Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) Optical Network Equipment Spending in the chart below:

                                  

RECENT AND UPCOMING OPTICAL RESEARCH:
Download Infonetics’ 2014 market research brochure, publication calendar, events brochure, report highlights, tables of contents, and more at http://www.infonetics.com/login

References:

https://techblog.comsoc.org/2013/12/20/fbrs-scott-thompson-ex…

http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/02/cir-400g-report.html

http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2014/02/400g-optical-transport-m…

http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/network-infrastructure-2014-market-ou…

http://www.sdncentral.com/news/ericsson-drops-optical-partners-ciena/201…

 

100G WEBINAR:

Join analyst Andrew Schmitt and JDSU, MRV, and Transmode on Wednesday, February 19, for 100G in the Metro: When and Where It Will Be Economical, a live event covering new approaches and technologies for cost-effectively deploying 100G in the metro. Register today: 

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=737721&s=1&k=4C4FEAE8EA6BE2BE5618AD600E607F5D

 

Addendum:

Frontier offers wavelength service in 25 states:
Frontier Communications’ Frontier Optical Transport Service, a 10-gigabit wavelength service, was rolled out Monday in 25 states. The company will install optical fiber to buildings of customers that order the service. “If we don’t lay the fiber, someone else will,” Frontier’s Lisa Partridge said. “We believe it’s necessary because of how quickly bandwidth is doubling and tripling.” Telecompetitor.com 

Chicago Plans affordable gigabit Internet access in selected zones

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put out requests for vendor qualifications as Chicago prepares to bring gigabit-class Internet service to certain neighborhoods. Chicago has designated seven “Innovation Zones” for the faster service which will not based on Google Fiber. 

The biggest and busiest city in the Midwest, Chicago is home to almost 3 million people. Comcast provides high-speed cable Internet access, while AT&T is the major DSL provider.

Before powering up the seven ultra high speed Internet zones, the city says it must take several months reviewing qualifications
 and proposals from potential vendors.  The goal, Yager says, is to promote businesses and universities across Chicago.
“This is really a huge economic development initiative,” she said. She believes providing access to gigabit-speed Internet — which is 100 times faster than basic broadband — will encourage business creation, growth, expansion and relocation.

http://bluesky.chicagotribune.com/originals/chi-rahm-emanuel-gigabit-speed-internet-bsi-20140207,0,0.story

FBR: Telcos & Service Providers Moving from "feeds and speeds" to "higher-margin managed services"/Home grown CDNs?

In a report today on Level 3 Communications (LVLT), FBR analyst David Dixon makes the case that enterprise customers of private line, VPN, voice trunking and other transport services are moving to the cloud for those and more.  Dixon wrote:

“We see (service provider) companies offering bundled cloud, transport, and access services (where access services are heavily discounted to secure higher-value cloud services) and believe the company cost structure may shift more than expected due to the change in the nature of content relationships over time, perhaps driving a review of peering interconnections with end-user networks and potential migration of customers to single integrated wireline/wireless providers.”

Continuing, “Level 3’s  guidance depends on a number of “X factors” over the near future, including sustaining positive enterprise growth and more aggressive dark fiber sales. We are seeing more appetite from wireless network providers for dark fiber (to locations already served with leased lit fiber) as their architecture shifts get underway. The risk is that these companies may confine LVLT to providing lower-margin transport services. In the CDN (Content Delivery Network) segment, we like the current momentum but see this business pressured over time by the irreversible mix shift of Internet traffic toward “two-way” content increasingly distributed on cloud-based architectures that provide compute AND storage.”

In his analysis of Akamai’s earnings report, Dixon wrote: “Fundamentally, we are concerned about the increased pressure on Akamai’s CDN-based business model over time” for exactly the same reason- customer migration to cloud compute and storage services.  Akamai is the company behind FaceBook, Apple, and other massive global web properties. The company claims to deliver 30% of all Web traffic. Akamai is rated as a top notch CDN, with 96 out of the 100 top online retailers in the U.S. relying on Akamai’s CDN.  http://www.akamai.com/


Earlier this week, the WSJ reported: Apple Quietly Builds New Networks

Apple was said to be “stitching together a network of Internet infrastructure capable of delivering large amounts of content to customers, giving the company more control over the distribution of its online offerings while laying the groundwork for more traffic if it decides to move deeper into television.”

That might adversely effect Akamai’s future revenues. “DeepField says Apple distributes most of its Internet content through Akamai’s network of servers. Akamai executives recently said they are renegotiating a multiyear contract with their top customer, a process that typically results in lower fees for the company.”

Akamai’s CEO Tom Leighton hinted at the news that Apple may be thinking of going it alone for a CDN with this comment to industry analysts: “Any very large media customer at one time or another is looking at a do-it-yourself solution. It’s a lot harder than people think, though. What may have seemed like a good idea at the time, over a period of years, often doesn’t.”

                                                    

Report from Open Compute Summit & Implications for the Networking Sector – Scott Thompson, FBR Capital Markets

Article written by Scott Thompson of FBR Capital Markets.

References provided by Alan J Weissberger of IEEE ComSoc

OCS Report:

On January 28 and 29, the Open Compute Summit held its annual gathering where hyperscale and large enterprises show cased the creative and cutting-edge work they have pioneered over the past year in a quest to drive costs and complications from the IT landscape. We attended the conference and present some of the more important points below.

    * One of the messages with the most impact at Open Compute this year was delivered by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He suggested that one of the top strategic priorities at Facebook is to find a way to deliver Internet service to a larger portion of the world’s population.  Mr. Zuckerberg stressed that emerging markets (two-thirds of the planet’s population) often do not have the same access to the Internet as does the developed world. Facebook believes that finding a way to provide affordable access to the Internet for those markets represents one of Facebook’s largest growth opportunities. He added that the costs Facebook presently incurs to deploy networks that run its services would need to decline to one-tenth of current rates to make this goal financially achievable. He also added that Facebook has a plan to deliver those types of network efficiencies over the next five years and that the Open Compute Project is an essential cornerstone of that effort.

    * We found a chorus of network pioneers at the event that agreed with Mr. Zuckerberg’s assessment. The networking and compute process, when combined in ways that webscale operations have been perfecting for several years, is likely to deliver significant savings, compared to traditional methods and architectures.

Intel is introducing reference designs for “rack-scale architecture” that, by 2015-2016, should dramatically change the way the world processes data and manages compute resources and networks both together.

During a panel hosted by Facebook’s Director of Infrastructure Najam Ahmad, a large number of panelists appeared to confirm that there is a clear and new reference design for how the IT community is beginning to measure efficient datacenter infrastructure.

Martin Casado, PhD & CTO of networking at VMWare, and J.R. Rivers of Cumulus Networks both seemed to agree that the new distributed datacenter model used by many hyperscale networks has achieved new levels of efficiency. Mr. Casado suggested these reference designs, across both enterprise and service verticals, are quickly becoming the de facto standard by which new and more efficient networking technologies can be deployed. He suggested that we may be nearly past the technical barriers required for achieving hypserscale efficiencies and that the primary constraint keeping enterprises and service providers from adopting similar technologies is now cultural. Casado believes that educating those who design and deploy IT systems is now the most effective way to bring about wholesale change across the networking landscape.

    * The Open Compute Project (OCP) appears focused on this challenge in 2014. While the pure pace of innovative technology on display at this year’s Open Compute Summit appeared to have slowed, relative to the last one, the mechanisms and framework needed to effect and propagate change appear to be improving dramatically.

The OCP appears to be rapidly gaining the support of the vendor community, bringing it closer to an ecosystem for the acquisition of bespoke networking and compute equipment. From a logical  perspective, we continue to have reservations that an “open community” will have the scale and purchasing power to effect change across vendors that might prefer other solutions, but we remain impressed by the scale, scope, and momentum that the OCP has created over the past few years. Whether it proves to be long term or not, Open Compute and its member organizations are changing the face of the IT landscape.


References:

1. SDN Central’s OCP Summit Report:

http://tinyurl.com/m9442bo

2. OCP-Network Group Charter & more

http://files.opencompute.org/oc/public.php?service=files&t=437680b2416f9…

3.  Broadcom’s Leaf & Spine Network Switch Spec

http://www.opencompute.org/assets/Uploads/Open-Compute-Project-BRCM-Open…

4.  Intel’s 10/40 Gigabit Ethernet Rack Mountable Switch Standard, by Michael Miller

Contact: [email protected]  for a soft copy (pdf)