michaelwyres.com.au | musings of a geek

NBN: Structural Separation

With the federal government recently moving to commence the tender process for the first stages of the National Broadband Network (NBN), I am gladdened to see that they are taking the issue of backhaul very seriously. Backhaul has been one of the biggest problems with internet speeds in Australia for many years – with or without the NBN.

It is also pleasing to see that the major news outlets are taking the time to consider the costs and implications of what the NBN will bring to the table.

As the above article suggests, for Australia to truly benefit from the NBN, it needs to be universally accepted and used. Several of the major telcos in this country, most notably Optus, have been calling for the structural separation of Telstra into retail and wholesale arms. Up until now, with their monopoly on fixed-line copper in Australia, Telstra has been able to dictate wholesale pricing to all carriers seeking access for data or voice services.

The copper in Australia is old. In some areas it is so bad in condition, or so lacking in quantity, that many people cannot receive xDSL services of any kind on their existing phone lines. Imagine how much it would cost and how long it would take to replace it? But why bother? It’s OLD technology.

The structural separation of Telstra holds many advantages – not the least of which is genuine price competition. However, if the government takes a bold step and mandates a cut-off date for the entire copper network – once the NBN is complete – Telstra will no longer be in the position to price-gouge with their wholesale pricing – they won’t have a product to do it with.

And then every one who wants a slice of the NBN pie will be on a level playing field. That’s a good thing. I certainly hope it happens.

Next Wave Computing

As systems engineers, administrators, and integrators, one of the biggest challenges is collaboration – making it as easy as possible for your users to work together from their desks, wherever they may be. Some people like to work from home, while others are in the office – how do you maintain the user experience across the corporate boundaries?

Further, the complexity increases by orders of magnitude when you want to start collaborating with business partners OUTSIDE of your organisation. Suppliers, customers, vendors. The security and connectivity issues alone are almost mind-numblingly difficult to resolve in many instances.

Enter Google, and their upcoming Google Wave product. The following is a recent presentation made to developers about this astounding solution. It’s about 80 minutes long, but worth the watch – you’ll be amazed at how interoperable the solution is.

One of the biggest criticisms of other Google products, such as Google Docs, is that Google is ultimately holding your data. Wave is truly next generation – or “next wave” if you like – and allows the stunning power of Google Wave to live in your own data centre, rather than Google’s.

The platform will be completely open-source, and will allow organisations to run their own Wave servers, and inter-operate – or “federate” – with other Wave servers from other organisations.

In a couple of words – this product blows me away. Watch the video and see what you think about it.

Price Check On Register Duh!

Special prices on supermarket items about to go past their use-by dates are great, especially if you know you are going to use the product straight away.

However, in this instance, I think I’d rather pay the original price!

Do Not Use Twitter!

Interesting commentary on just how pervasive Twitter is becoming in modern culture – particularly in the culture of the tech savvy.

Do You Google It Or Bing It?

So, Microsoft are launching another attempt to overtake Google in the search market.

Could be good – Google is in danger of become so intrinsic to our life on the internet, that if something ever happened – (major data centre disruption, the amount of personal data they potentially hold, etc) – could we actually cope without Google?

Enter “Bing” – what Microsoft is calling their “decision engine”, rather than a search engine. The glossy video looks nice, and if it can do what the video suggests, it certainly has potential.

At this stage though, I’m not convinced. Some lucky people have already been given the chance to use it – the rest of us need to wait until next week – and the reviews will start to appear in coming days. But a glossy promotional video is one thing only – lets see it in action first.

But “Bing”? I just think saying “I googled this” sounds better than “I binged this”!

Backdown? Net Filtering Not Compulsory?

Now it seems that the “mandatory” net filtering that nobody wants, might not actually be compulsory. Non-compulsory mandatory filtering?

Can someone please hand Stephen Conroy a thesaurus? We love your proposed NBN, but we hate your proposed filtering. Can you please start listening to people and just take it off the agenda?

Leo Goes Flat

I get my tech news from a lot of different places – including TWiT.tv. Many of Leo’s fans will know that he does the shows sitting on an exercise ball.

Ever wondered if he’s ever popped the ball?

The answer: Yes!

(NOTE: Leo posted this video himself, and trimmed some of the audio out, but there is audio!)

NBN: A Question of Infrastructure

There’s been a great deal of debate in recent weeks about the proposed $43B(AUD) National Broadband Network, particularly in regards to “naysayers” who wonder how “we’ll ever recoup that amount of money”.

This $43B spend is, quite simply, not about recouping the investment. This is INFRASTRUCTURE. Do we build $500M public freeways and expect that money to be recouped? No, because it’s infrastructure. The point of infrastructure is to provide stimulus for the rest of the economy to become more viable. The $43B won’t be recouped. It doesn’t have to be.

Over the life of this infrastructure, the potential benefit for the rest of the economy is worth well in excess of the $43B initial outlay.

Once the network is built, it’s operation and maintenance will switch to the so-called “NBNCo”, which will need to operate as a profitable enterprise, as it will be privately owned. The government – whose IT policies I have been a critic of – has actually got this right. They are “gifting” this network to Australia, to allow Australia to remain relevant to the world economy in the years ahead.

We currently lag well behind so many countries in broadband speed and penetration. This will bring us right up to the forefront, and give this country the best possible chance to survive in the modern, internet-connected world.

Kev’s Bad Hair Day

In an entry for the “oh good god, get over it” file, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apparently threw what is being described as a “tantrum” while on a recent visit to Afghanistan. Coming soon after his hissy fit about the food on the prime-ministerial jet, this one is even funnier.

Poor old Kevin couldn’t get his hairdryer to work, and suffered the “bad hair day” we all fear. I didn’t realise he was such a girl. It’s the desert Kev. During a war. Nobody cares about your hair.

NBN: The Real Value

There has been a lot said in recent weeks in regards to the forthcoming National Broadband Network (NBN), and what it will mean for Australia’s future. While it is still very difficult to say exactly what form the network will take, we do know that 90% of all Australian’s will be able to get a 100Mbps connection via a fibre network connection, directly into their premises, with the remaining 10% to get 12Mbps via either a fibre-to-the-node/DSL-based connection, or a satellite dish.

The “typical” Australian broadband user currently has a 1.5Mbps/256kbps ADSL connection, with most paying around $50.00 for the privilege.

Some projections have the new 100Mbps connections typically costing around $100.00 per month – and for some reason, many people are up-in-arms about it.

Sure – that might be double what most people are currently paying, but lets look a little deeper. Aside from people with Naked ADSL2/2+ connections – (which are about 50% higher in cost than “non-naked” services) – people currently paying $50.00 a month for ADSL1 at 1.5Mbps/256kbps, also pay for a local fixed line to carry that service.

Add the costs together. I currently pay $49.90 per month for ADSL1, plus (depending on what calls I make) around $65.00 a month for the fixed line to put that ADSL1 service onto.

That’s $115.00. The NBN fibre network will completely remove any real need I will ever have for a fixed line. I save $15.00 a month, and get 100 times faster internet.

Not so bad. If I really want a fixed-phone, I’ll get a VoIP service – but most of my personal voice communications are currently done via mobile phone – so I might not even bother.

The really smart ISPs will be gearing up with VoIP offerings in preparation for the new network – many already have. VoIP accounts are trivial to set up on something like an Asterisk server, so if you got your VoIP from the same provider who brings you your fibre (which is the logical choice), they’d likely not charge you to have the service – there would be a small fee to have your phone number pointing to their service, and then call carriage costs. That’s it.

So – in summary – faster internet, lower costs, cheaper phone calls. Where’s the problem? Oh yes – Telstra have realised that in 10 years nobody will need their monopolistic copper line system anymore.

For the home user – the cost advantage, combined with the speed increase will be valuable. For business, particularly small business, the ability to compete with the big boys with speeds they previously could only dream of, and with access to advanced telephony they could never contemplate before now, it will drive the entire economy to new scales of efficiency.

Big business will need to sharpen their pencils and provide REAL service – because the little guys who already focus on good old fashioned service, will suddenly become more accessible to everyone. Globally.

That’s got to be a good thing.