What next for the network?

Next Generation Networks asked several telecom industry veterans what technology or service they would highlight that is set to have the biggest impact on the network over the next three to five years. Here are some responses:-

"IPTV services will have a huge impact on the metro networks that transport their content. IPTV services require dedicated bandwidth that ranges from 2 Mbit/s for standard definition (SD) to 8 Mbit/s for high definition (HD). As few as 20 percent penetration of an IPTV service will cause the video traffic to dominate the network. Priority based QoS techniques will not be able to resolve congestion issues because there will no longer be enough low priority packets to discard. The answer to this dilemma may be to move away from IP to an optical network architecture that better fits constant bit rate services."

Bob Larribeau, senior analyst, MRG

"The technology would be whatever will deliver high speed data over wireless, with minimum power and maximum QoS. One of these may be the MIMO [multiple-input multiple-output] technology which implementations similar to that of 802.11n*. Another set of technologies are ones that allow seamless integration between different wireless standards, such as software radio, GSM-WiFi hopping and reconfigurable mobile IP."

* The emerging Wi-Fi local-area network standard with a theoretical 540 Mbit/s throughput.

Prof. Izzat Darwazeh, Head of Communications and Information
Systems Group, University College London

Soundbite: The move to 100G Ethernet

"There is no one killer app driving demand for 100 Gig, but rather it is a shift in the way people are interacting with the Internet... While it has become obvious that the industry will need 100 Gigabit Ethernet in the not-too-distant future, how to best get there is less clear."

Joel Goergen, vice president of technology
and chief scientist at Force10 Networks
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Welcome!

This blog has been set up to highlight and discuss some of the key themes surround the fast moving arena of next-generation networks (NGNs). It is being produced by Total Telecom the leading information source for the global communications industry.