Archive for the ‘Network’ Category

CommScope brings 40Gbps Ethernet channel closer to reality

Monday, February 18th, 2013

CommScope announced today that it has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of Category 8 cabling for enterprise networks.

The proof of concept brings CommScope customers closer to achieving 40GBASE-T system for data center applications.

Extracted from report for the "Category 8 Structured Cabling Channel Demonstration by CommScope".

Extracted from report for the “Category 8 Structured Cabling Channel Demonstration by CommScope”.

CommScope is a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks.  and data centers.

“We believe this demonstrated solution shows the real market potential for customers to eventually take advantage of 40G transmission rates over copper twisted-pair based media with cable and connector types they are familiar with today,” said Richard Mei, director of transmission solutions, CommScope.

As a leading provider of next generation data center infrastructure, CommScope verified a proof-of-concept solution for a viable 40 Gigabit per second (Gbps) Ethernet channel by utilizing prototype Category 8 RJ-45 connectors and copper twisted pair cables.

All components of the groundbreaking concept were designed by engineers in CommScope labs. This demonstration took place at the recent International Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 NGBASE-T study group meeting in Phoenix, Ariz.

A technical contribution to the study group titled, “Category 8 Structured Cabling Channel Demonstration by CommScope,” described the feasibility of the concept.

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CES 2013: ASUS unveils Transformer AiO PC and Qube Google TV

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

The Transformer AiO PC runs on Windows 8 and has an integral Android tablet that can be detached, while the Qube Google TV media streamer is an entertainment device with voice search and motion control.

Also unveiled were two premium monitors and a pocket router.

ASUS has unveiled a number of new innovative products during CES 2013.

ASUS has unveiled a number of new innovative products during CES 2013.

The Transformer AiO has an 18.4-inch display that doubles as a standalone tablet.

The two monitors are the PA249Q ProArt and VG248QE Fast Gaming monitors, while the WL-330NUL Pocket Router is the world’s smallest router that gives easy wireless connectivity to travelers.

In fact, the pocket router would have been exactly what I needed during my recent trip to Japan because the super-thin Ultrabook that I’d brought along didn’t have an Ethernet port and some hotel rooms had wired Internet access but no Wi-Fi.

Below are more details of the new gizmos.

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Review: HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One inkjet printer

Saturday, January 5th, 2013

If you’re looking for a capable workhorse for your home office, this duplex A4 inkjet printer gives you the full range of print, copy, scan and fax capabilities you’ll need.

Print quality is good, operation is simple and fast – but make sure you have enough space for it.

RRP: S$499 (incl. GST).

HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One inkjet prints up to 20 ppm in black, and 16 ppm in colour.

HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One inkjet prints up to 20 ppm in black, and 16 ppm in colour.

The print quality of the Officejet Pro 8600 Plus  is excellent. Text documents look as if they were printed by a laser printer, while photos (printed on glossy photo paper) were crisp and vibrant.

You’ll be hard put to tell they were not printed on a dedicated photo printer.

I tested the photo-print quality by printing full A4 sized outputs on glossy photo paper.

I was rather impressed as I didn’t expect a multi-function printer meant for office-use to produce photo prints almost as well as a dedicated photo printer.

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Encompass celebrates launch of 100th channel from Singapore facility

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

Encompass Digital Media now has the largest independent playout and Teleport facility in Asia, boosting Singapore’s goal to become a global media hub.

Encompass Digital Media has 24/7/365 Teleport facilities and technical personnel in USA, UK and Singapore.

Encompass Digital Media has 24/7/365 Teleport facilities and technical personnel in USA, UK and Singapore.

Encompass had aimed to reach the 100-channel (from Singapore) origination/transmission milestone in 24 months. Instead it achieved the target six months earlier – within 18 months.

“Over the next few months, we plan to add seven more channels, making it easier for content owners to expand their reach into Asia on multiple platforms,” divulged Deepakjit Singh, managing director for Encompass Asia.

In the last 12 months, it has launched one channel every three weeks.

In a climate when players in the industry are folding or struggling with difficult economic outlooks, Deepakjit Singh is brimming with confidence that Encompass will “ride the wave” of growth through its aggressive embracing of digitalisation.

Deepakjit is the Managing Director of Asia for Encompass Digital Media, one of the world’s top digital media services providers and a leader in global satellite and terrestrial connectivity.

“Providing our clients with the ability to expand their business models and further monetize their assets through the vast range of innovative services we offer is what differentiates us from our competitors,” said Deepakjit.

The company’s mission-critical media services provides broadcasters, cable networks, corporations and government agencies with customized solutions for the management and distribution of content globally.

Currently, the Singapore facilities is capable of supporting up to 250 channels, but the constant upgrading of infrastructure ensures that it will always have more than enough capacity to cater to rapid growth.

Encompass is investing US$20 million over five years into its Singapore operations for technology and infrastructure upgrading, employee up-skilling and community engagement initiatives.

Almost half of that has already been invested on technology upgrading in order to increase productivity and to reduce the marginal cost of launching a new channel.

This enables Singapore to compete effectively with China and India.

In the last two years, the number of channels that Encompass Asia provides end-to-end services to has increased threefold.

About Encompass Asia

Encompass Asia is a leading provider of content management and distribution services with more than 30 per cent share in the market.

“People in Asian countries like Vietnam, India and China, are becoming increasingly mobile and are demanding for content in different languages and formats,” observed Deepakjit.

“At our Singapore facility, we have the capability to convert content into over 200 formats for nearly every type of platform and delivery model.”

In Singapore, Encompass Asia have the largest digital media facility in the region from where content is played out to the rest of Asia, reaching as far as South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and India.

The 88,000 sq. ft. facility with 16 satellite uplinks is designed to offer a robust, redundant infrastructure providing playout, distribution, digital media manipulation, creative, technical and global archival services.

In addition, the facility also houses a cutting-edge post-production operation and production studio giving its clients an end-to-end solution when creating and delivering content.

Its parent, Encompass Digital Media has 24/7/365 Teleport facilities and technical personnel in USA, UK and Singapore.

OpenNet completes initial rollout of Singapore Nationwide Fibre Network

Monday, October 15th, 2012

With the completion of the initial rollout, OpenNet has achieved 95 percent coverage of Singapore’s residential and non-residential premises (as at 30 June 2012) in three and a half years.

95% of Singapore's residential and non-residential have met their friendly neighbourhood. Photo from OpenNet.

95% of Singapore’s residential and non-residential have met their friendly neighbourhood. Photo from OpenNet.

OpenNet’s focus for Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) is now on the remaining 5% and new premises.

While roll-out to 95% of Singaporean premises was on schedule, there have been some delays in reaching the remaining premises.

OpenNet has, however, recently reached an agreement with its Key Sub-contractor to roll-out fibre to the balance 5% premises by mid-2013.

“As users enjoy a richer and smoother broadband experience, OpenNet is proud to be a contributor to the transformation of Singapore into an intelligent nation and global city,” said Mark Blake, CEO, OpenNet.

The coverage information is being updated and from 1st November 2012 premise owners may check OpenNet’s portal at www.opennet.com.sg for specific coverage details.

A letter will also be sent to homeowners when fibre roll-out to their building has been completed.

Homeowners may then approach their preferred Internet Service Provider to subscribe to fibre broadband services, including a free first pass installation of the fibre termination point.

New company byte: OpenNet

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

Here’s a new Company Byte – for OpenNet, the Singapore company responsible for the building, managing and operating of the fibre-optic platform for Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN).

OpenNet is responsible for the building, managing and operating of Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN).

Read a byte-sized profile and background information of OpenNetfor quick reference here.

You can also read articles related to OpenNet on tech4tea.com here.

New switches: Dell PowerConnect 8100 Series

Monday, September 10th, 2012

Dell expands networking portfolio to accelerate productivity and performance for enterprise campus and small business core networks.

Available from today starting from S$15,600.

New Dell PowerConnect 8100 Series switches offer streamlined efficiency and flexibility to scale campus networks.

New Dell PowerConnect 8100 Series switches offer streamlined efficiency and flexibility to scale campus networks.

Dell today announced the Dell PowerConnect 8100 managed 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch family offering customers building blocks to deploy applications quickly, scale operations and reduce costs.

Dell PowerConnect 8100 SeriesThe new additions to the PowerConnect family are high-density, high-performance switch solutions designed to streamline deployments for enterprise campus and small core, mid-market network infrastructures.

“We’re investing significantly in our networking portfolio, including PowerConnect and Force10, to provide customers a full 10 and 40GbE networking solution from the campus to the data center,” said Ho Chye Soon, general manager, Commercial Business, Dell Singapore.

With the rapid growth of rich media, communications and heavy business workloads, campus and small business networks are under increased pressure to improve productivity, maximize efficiency and simplify management.

Dell designed the new PowerConnect 8100 Series to meet customer demand for networking solutions that deliver a combination of scalability, performance, operational simplicity, and cost-effectiveness in 24/7 operations.

Built for today’s enterprise

Dell PowerConnect 8100 Series

Dell PowerConnect 8100 Series

Customers can replace older core and aggregation layers with scalable, higher-density solutions for the flexibility to step up to 10GbE and 40GbE infrastructures.

The new switches enable a complete end-to-end 10GbE solution, featuring Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers with 10GbE onboard, as well as Dell EqualLogic and Dell Compellent 10GbE storage arrays.

Key functionality includes:

  • Network performance: The 8100 delivers line-rate, low-latency 10GbE performance and up to four 40GbE ports. The switches are optimized for video conferencing, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and unified communications and collaboration (UCC) for mid-market unified campus aggregation.
  • Scalable Density: Up to six switches can be stacked and managed simply, enabling businesses to quickly add capacity while delivering a reliable infrastructure that just works.
  • Efficient operation: The 8100 series simplifies integration for mid-size storage area networks with iSCSI traffic flow optimization and automated configuration with Dell EqualLogic storage arrays while enabling loss-less data operations across converged (DCB) networks

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Maximising unused TV frequencies for wireless broadband communications

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

Utilising unused TV frequencies to provide wireless broadband connectivity increases the range and and penetration of coverage through foliage and reflective water surfaces that traditional Wi-Fi simply cannot penetrate.

Squeezing more more channels from the electromagnetic spectrum.

Squeezing more more channels from the electromagnetic spectrum.

Currently, the radio spectrum in the TV broadcast bands have been reserved for use by licensed broadcasters and are out-of-bounds for wireless broadband networks.

“Broadband connectivity is the ‘oxygen’ to today’s digital economy, and is fundamental to the wide adoption of cloud computing services that are already part of our daily lives, whether at work, home or play,” observed Jessica Tan, General Manager, Enterprise & Partner Group, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

However, much of these reserved radio spectrum remain unused and are called TV White Spaces (TVWS).

For instance, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia shares out the TV broadcast bands in the region and there are certain bands allocated to Malaysia and Indonesia that Singapore cannot use for TV broadcast.

If these TV White Spaces can be harnessed effectively for wireless broadband connectivity without interfering with the quality of TV broadcast, it will translate to better coverage, lower power consumption and reduced network costs.

“TVWS radio technology will create a new generation of wireless connectivity by unlocking these large, unused chunks of spectrum that will enable more ubiquitous and affordable wireless broadband for all,” said Tan.

The physical characteristics of the 700 MHz band (as compared to the higher-frequency 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands used by traditional Wi-Fi), for example, means that it can reach further, penetrate thick foliage, and transmit across reflective water surfaces with less interference.

In terms of bandwidth, however, both TVWS and Wi-Fi are capable of roughly 2Mbps per MHz. It is the penetrative and low-power attributes of the former that makes it an attractive supplement to the latter.

The spectrum as a precious commodity

Globally, explosive growth of wireless data traffic is putting a severe strain on today’s mobile and Wi-Fi network infrastructure, signalling the need for more efficient management of the spectrum, through policy and technology innovations.

The exploitation of TVWS turns unused TV broadcast frequency bands into premium wireless broadband delivery channels.

New company byte: SingTel

Friday, August 10th, 2012

SingTel is one of Asia’s leading communications group with operations and investments around the world, serving both the corporate and consumer markets.

I have created a new company byte for SingTel here.

SingTel - Singapore Telecommunications Limited

SingTel – Singapore Telecommunications Limited

Read a byte-sized profile and background information about SingTel for quick reference here.

You can also read articles related to SingTel on tech4tea.com here.

Company byte: Belkin rebranded

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Belkin is a maker of network connectivity hardware, as well as accessories for consumer devices such as iPods and iPads. 

Belkin makes wireless routers, iPod accessories, iPad cases and energy saving devices.

Belkin makes wireless routers, iPod accessories, iPad cases and energy saving devices.

Belkin was founded in 1983 by Chet Pipkin and is headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California, USA.

The rebranded Belkin logo.

The rebranded Belkin logo.

The company rebranded itself with a change in corporate logo during CES 2012, and a refocus onto developing “People-Inspired Products”.

Founder Pipkin, now President and CEO of the company, initiated the rebranding.

“The new Belkin logo, also known as PIP for ‘People-Inspired Products’, is an image made of dots configured to create a universal symbol of a person. It symbolises Belkin’s commitment in enhancing technology experiences for people, inspired by people,” said Alan Sparks, Vice President of Belkin, Asia Pacific.To achieve the promise of delivering People-Inspired Products, Belkin will put the emphasis on listening to the voices of their customers and partners.

These voices are to be integral to the development of Belkin’s products in their effort to improve and anticipate the evolving needs in our daily lives.

In conjunction with the rebranding, Belkin also announced its range of new products.

A list of these products is included in the press release below.

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