The Future of Wireless Broadband: CommunicAsia 2010

At the 2010 CommunicAsia event in Singapore this year, broadband and wireless technologies are likely to be hot-button topics. As manufacturers from all across the world gather to discuss the future of their respective industries, all attendants, regardless of how their companies earn their bread and butter, are setting their sights on advancements in communications technologies. As was reported by Light Reading, apps development, delivery and implementation are likely to be key issues. The article lists several companies making important announcements:

"Among the companies and organizations expected to announce new products and developments are Tejas Networks India Ltd., RAD Data Communications Ltd., and ZTE Corp, while National ICT Australia, Australia's IT and Communications Research Centre of Excellence, plans to make an announcement that, it says, will be of 'international significance, with particular relevance to the U.S. mobile telecommunications market'"

Many telecommunications enthusiasts are eager to find out what this earth-shattering announcement will be, while others are predicting it could merely be a more efficient way to implement 4g networks in the United States and worldwide. Other topics that will most likely be discussed at CommunicAsia 2010 are cloud computing, mobile marketing and advertising and the importance of wireless communications in industry. Stay tuned to Light Reading and this blog for updates on the latest networking and communications news!

Read the full article here:

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=193147&

New Strategies in the War Between Cisco and Juniper

(Statistics Represent the Fourth Quarter of 2008)

A recent article by Jim Duffy of PCWorld takes an interesting look at the history of the feud between Cisco and Juniper routers, as well as discusses the impact these two router technologies have on us today. Starting from the founding of Juniper in 1996 (Cisco had previously monopolized the market starting from its founding in 1984) and continuing to the present day, Duffy's article characterizes the back-and-forth battle that these two technological giants wage against each other today.

Of Juniper's recent attempts to oust Cisco from the number 1 spot, Duffy remarks,

"Juniper is taking the battle to enterprise data centers and cloud computing environments. Emboldened by its success in carrier routing, Juniper unveiled enterprise Ethernet switches two years ago in an attempt to become a credible alternative to Cisco's dominance in that market, too. The company believes it can carve a niche in the elite networking arenas of financial trading, high-performance computing and other demanding enterprise environments just like it did in service provider routing."

With other contenders in the market like Alcatel-Lucent also vying for dominance in this market, it seems evident that consumers can look forward to aggressive innovation and rapid expansion from all of the heavyweights in the router market. As Cisco tries to further cement itself as the leading company in these technologies, expect experimental strategies from competitors. With billions of dollars on the line, it is unlikely that any of these key players will be giving up any time soon.

Be sure to check out Duffy's article here:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/198147/cisco_vs_juniper.html

And to learn more about Cisco and Juniper routers, check out:

http://www.infinit-tech.com/Network-Routers.php

Motorola Making Wireless Smart Grid Solutions

Motorola is introducing an interesting new wireless product. Billed as a stripped down WiMax router, the CAP 36320 is a wireless 802.16e broadband access point that's meant to meter energy use in a smart grid application. The company has hit on this as a low-cost smart grid solution.

Motorola has stripped out much of the wireless overhead--including removing roaming capabilities and public spectrum operation--in order to lower product costs to around $500. The company estimates that it could help establish a national smart grid with as few as 350,000 routers. The move into smart grid technology is part of a larger corporate strategy at Motorola. The company plans to divide its operations into two: One unit will focus on industrial equipment, including products like the CAP 36320. The other unit will continue to create consumer technology, including home area networking equipment.

10 Ways To Get The Most From Your IT Training

Tech Republic has an excellent piece on how to get the most out of your IT training. It's worth reading in full, but here are the main points, briefly:

1. Take advantage of on-the-job training whenever possible
2. Go back to school for more extended learning
3. Learn from the experts
4. Use self-paced, online training for greater flexibility
5. Use training that includes online lab simulations for practical experience
6. Test yourself with practice exams to find out where you have knowledge gaps
7. Practice on physical hardware if it’s available to you
8. Use training that follows IT certification course requirements exactly
9. Use training that tracks every action and scores results accordingly
10. Overall, focus on the fundamentals
    

Cisco and Bank of America: Videoconferencing Giants

BusinessWeek has a great article about Cisco, HP, and Bank of America. It outlines the differences between Cisco's and HP's strategies for the fast-growing videoconferencing market, and it goes over details of a recent massive agreement between Cisco and Bank of America.

Basically, HP's videoconferencing solution is called is Halo Telepresence Solutions, which it developed with DreamWorks Animation back in 2005. DreamWorks has since then collaborated with HP on videoconferencing, including for creating the film How To Train Your Dragon. The HP Halo solution is geared more toward creative, fast collaboration. DreamWorld CTO Ed Leonard has said that HP's technology has allowed his studio to create films at its breakneck pace, three a year.

Cisco's videoconferencing products have also garnered high praise from high places. Proctor and Gamble Co. has stated that the company saved $4 for every $1 it spent on Cisco's TelePresence solution, which is good because the company installed 70 units. Each unite can cost more than $250,000. Proctor and Gamble said it saved money by reducing travel costs and increasing efficiency.

Now, Cisco is announcing its largest corporate partnership, yet. Bank of America plans to install 200 Csco TelePresence videoconferencing systems by the end of 2010. Presently, the banking giant uses 28 systems for employee meetings and training. Cisco's TelePresence solution will allow as many as 48 locations to collaborate simultaneously. As the workforce and economy spreads out on a global scale, this sort of massive videoconferencing solution will become more and more common. As for right now, it sure is exciting.

Cisco Borderless Networks Released in the Wild?

Back in October 2009, Cisco announced a plan to launch its Cisco Borderless Networks. Recently, the company announced the release of its Cisco Borderless Networks line. This new product direction is aimed at supporting increasingly mobile businesses with distributed, in-the-field networking needs. Cisco Borderless Networks is designed to securely connect business workers to anything, anywhere, and anytime. Cisco delivers on this architecture through video, energy management and highly secure networking services that are embedded across its routing, switching, wireless and security platforms to form a comprehensive borderless networking solution.

An interesting aspect of this new line of Cisco products is that the company is makings its prices. We mentioned yesterday that the competition between HP and Cisco is heating up. This could be a concession or a new salvo, in that battle.

Some highlights of the Cisco Borderless Networks products include a much expanded switching line. The Cisco Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X, the flagship of the Cisco fixed-switching portfolio. They are enterprise-class stackable and standalone these enterprise-class switches. The company also updated its router line.The Cisco Integrated Services Router G2 3900 E-Series was introduced last year in October. Cisco's latest announcement, though, includes the fact that they have tripled the performance of its ISR G2 router line. The line is now more than capable of handling challenging video applications and service integration.

These new Cisco products are an exciting addition to the networking marketplace. Competition is a good thing.

Cisco versus HP

Cisco and Hewlett-Packard are vying neck and neck for the valuable corporate data center market, but their leaders couldn't be more different. Whereas Cisco's John Chambers is known as a charismatic leader with a style similar to a southern preacher, HP's Mark Hurd is a by-the-numbers guy who excels at running operations. But obviously, both men have had a large amount of success.

Cisco dominates the market for networking and telecom systems. HP has a more diverse hardware portfolio, including computers, printers, servers, consulting, and software. The two companies, though, are starting to compete head to head as HP more fully enters the corporate market.

According to analysts, HP has seen its earnings grow over 22% per quarter on a year-over-year basis. Cisco has only seen 6% growth over a comparable period. HP's stock is also rising faster than Cisco's. Only time will tell which company assets its ultimate dominance.