Canadian expert tells Australia to Cancel Broadband tenders

Greetings from the "Symposium of Sustainability of the Internet and ICT" in Melbourne. Bill St. Arnaud from Canarie opened the event on Tuesday, by video link from Canada. He strongly asserted that VDSL was an energy inefficient interim technology and that the Australian Government should not invest in it.

Tenders for the National Broadband Network (NBN) close today, so I asked Bill if he was talking in generalities: was he really saying the Australian Government's current NBN process should be abandoned? He said "yes".

Bill, and some of the people at the ARC Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks, where the symposium is being held, believe that fibre to the home is feasible, even in rural areas and a better long term investment than ADSL. I am not sure if this is affordable at present, but it might not be a good idea to roll out large amount of ADSL in Australia right now.

I therefore suggest that Australian Government cancel the current tender process for broadband. They should reformulate the process to take into account energy use and greenhouse gas emissions issues. At the same time they might take the opportunity to divide the project into several smaller, more targeted projects. The government could target priority areas, such as broadband for schools and priority rural users, for early adoption. The issue of higher speed broadband for urban areas, which are already serviced by ADSL, could be left until it is clear fibre to the home is affordable, or other technology options are available.

Assessment of Australian Broadband Guarantee

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a Request for Tender for a Technical consultancy and quality-of-service assessment of Australian Broadband Guarantee (ABG) services provided by registered Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The previous federal government had a program to provide subsidies for broadband access in regional areas. It will be interesting to see what the assessment of the suggest of the project is. This is a critical time for govenrment broadband policy, with the tenders to implement the new federal government's broadband policy due soon.

There is a detailed 61 page document for the tender (DCON/08/88, 7 November 2008):

Overview

Through the Australian Broadband Guarantee (ABG) program, the Government facilitates access by all Australians to metro-comparable broadband services. The Department manages the ABG program, including its predecessor programs (HiBIS, Broadband Connect and Metro Broadband Connect), on behalf of the Government. The Government confirmed its support for the ABG program with the announcement on 16 May 2008 of a four-year funding allocation of $270.7 million. The new program commenced on 4 August 2008.

The ABG is designed to complement the National Broadband Network by targeting eligible residences in areas with no access to commercial broadband services.

In support of the ABG program, the Department requires the services of a technical consultant to provide technical assessments and reports on the service level compliance of registered Internet Service Providers (ISPs), in accordance with the requirements under the ABG Guidelines.

Under the ABG guidelines, all registered ISPs are required to offer at least one ‘threshold service’ with a data speed of at least 512/128 kbps. They must also offer at least one ‘added value’ service with a speed of at least 1024/256 Kbps and a data usage allowance of at least 5GB per month (with no restrictions on the types of downloads or uploads or times of usage i.e. peak/off peak limitations) for each Service Solution registered. Providers are also required to meet certain standards in relation to installation, the functionality of customer premises equipment (CPE), customer support, billing and excess data usage. It is expected that the consultant will provide the technical expertise that enables the Department to better understand the quality of broadband service received by an ABG customer.

Services required

Services

The Department is seeking to engage the services of a consultant, with proven experience in technical measurement of higher bandwidth services across a range of broadband technology platforms such as xDSL, wireless, satellite and other wireline broadband systems, to provide technical services and advice on the service-level compliance of ISPs registered under the ABG program. The consultant will be responsible for providing reliable reports that supplement the Department’s goal of understanding an end-user’s broadband experience under the ABG program through an assessment of various service delivery elements ...

Green ICT Symposium 2008, ANU, 14 November 2008

All are invited to a free Green ICT Symposium I have organised at the ANU in Canberra on 14 November 2008. This will feature Catherine Middleton who is in Australia researching broadband policy for the Canadian Government and the Mach Technology regional data centre, which was opened by the Minister for Broadband last week:

Green ICT: Learning to be Sustainable with Computers and Broadband

9am to 12:30 pm, Friday 14th November 2008
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Room N101, Building 108
The Australian National University
North Road ANU ACT 0200

Event

A free half day event bringing together people from academia, industry and government who are interested in environmentally sustainable uses of ICT. Facilities for Participation via Video Conference will be made available if there is sufficient demand.

RSVP to: Rachel.Allen@aph.gov.au

Background

In 2007 a report commissioned by the Australian Computer Society estimated that Australian computers and telecommunications were responsible for a similar level of greenhouse gas emissions as the civil aviation industry. In late 2008 Sir Peter Gershon recommended consolidating the Australian Government's data centers and developing a whole-of-government ICT sustainability plan to manage the carbon footprint of the Government's ICT activities.

Questions to Consider:

1. How can the ICT industry reduce its own carbon footprint?
2. How can use of ICT help reduce Australia's Carbon footprint?
3. What role could/should ICT Professionals play in reducing Australia's Carbon Footprint?

9.00am Welcome and Introduction

By Senator Kate Lundy

9:30am Tom Worthington, "Teaching Sustainable ICT to Professionals Online"

Tom will outline the Green ICT course commissioned for the Australian Computer Society's postgraduate program and how it may be delivered at ANU to federal government staff.

• Educating ICT Professionals on Energy Efficiency
• Educating ICT Professionals on Energy Efficiency: Presentation Slides

10am Setting up a data centre in regional Australia

Video link with Mach Technology, part of the Noosa Clever Networks project, launched 31 October by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Arts.

10.30 am coffee break.

At the (buy your own). Located in the ANU sports centre opposite the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

11am Dr Peter Strazdins, ANU. How much energy can you save with a multicore computer for government web applications?

In order to make a new phase of teaching and research in multicore computing at the ANU, the Computer Systems Group of ANU are hosting a and Sun Microsystems T2 multicore computer. This state-of-the-art server will become an integral part of the teaching program in computer systems at the ANU.

11:30am Associate Professor, Ryerson University, Are Users Up to Speed? The Demand Side of Sustainable Broadband

Despite widespread adoption of broadband technologies, many people use broadband networks in very simple ways. In order to realize sustainability benefits from investment in broadband infrastructure, efforts are needed to get users 'up to speed', so that broadband networks are more fully integrated into their daily activities. The talk draws on data from the Canadian Internet Use Survey, and implications for Australia are discussed.

Catherine Middleton is in Australia until mid December 2008 to explore what can be learned from the ongoing Australian experience for the future development of broadband infrastructure in Canada. She is keen to contact those involved in the development of broadband infrastructure in Australia and can be contacted by email <catherine.middleton(a)ryerson.ca>.

Catherine holds a Canada Research Chair studying Communication Technologies in the Information Society. Her research investigates consumer adoption of broadband and mobile technologies, and the development of broadband infrastructure. She is the Principal Investigator on a new project examining the organizational impacts of Blackberry adoption. Catherine is a faculty member at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto.

12:00 noon Dr. Idris F. Sulaiman, CEO, Computers Off Australia.

General, technical, policy and action streams of an ICT energy saving campaign.

12:30 pm Lunch.

At the Purple Pickle Cafe (buy your own).

Supporters

• ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science
• TomW Communications Pty Ltd

Noosa Clever Networks

Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Arts, launched the Noosa Clever Networks project, 31 October 2008. This is based at the Cooroy Knowledge Precinct at the old Cooroy Butter Factory, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The project has $4.57M of Clever Networks funding for high-speed broadband. This is an excellent initiative, but the Senator and his staff need to learn to use the technology, not just talk about it.

According to the project web site, Noosa Clever Networks, involves a fibre optic connection to Brisbane via the rail line and WiMAX networks by Allegro Networks. Also Mach Technology will construct a Data Centre at the Old Butter Factory. According to the Minister, wireless and fibre broadband works have been completed and the data centre is ready.

Customer of the project include students at the Sippy Downs education precinct. It happens I visited the University of the Sunshine Coast, last December to talk about blended learning techniques . While there I dropped in on thin client startup company ThinLinX, which is located at a technology park adjacent to the campus. ThinLinX design low cost computers for business and education, ideally suited to the new broadband network.

Unfortunately, while the people of the sunshine coast have entered the broadband age, with the help of the federal government, the federal government itself still has not "got it". In his speech which launched the Noosa Clever Networks, the Broadband Minister said:

It is imperative that we also build the knowledge, skills and capabilities to ensure that all Australians have the opportunity to take advantage of these new technologies.

To that end, in four weeks time on 18 November, the Government will host the first Australian Council of Local Government meeting, at Parliament House in Canberra.

The one-day meeting with all Australian mayors and shire presidents will address issues of national and local significance.

Among these will be the immediate challenges facing major cities and growth corridors, including urban congestion, urban planning and design. ...

The irony of opening a regional broadband network designed to replace travel, by inviting people to fly to Canberra, seems to be lost on the minister's speech-writer. It is such last century thinking which is preventing many of the problems facing Australia from being solved, with urban congestion, planning and design.

Inviting people to fly thousands of kilometres to a centralised meeting and cause traffic congestion in Canberra is not the way to solve problems of urban congestion and promote regions. Senator Conroy and his staff need to learn to use the technology he is responsible for promoting.

I suggest that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy could take an active part in the first meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government. by sponsoring an online component for the event. This would allow for experts and the general community to have input online over an extended period, rather than just being a passive audience for a short, remote event in Canberra.

Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a Request for Tender for an "Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey". The Australian Broadband Guarantee provides subsidies for broadband (512Kbps download and 128Kbps upload) in rural and remote areas. The survey is to measure awareness of, and demand for, broadband and the Guarantee program. Curiously the survey doesn't seem to be intended to see if the program actually works.

The Department requires an experienced market and/or social research organisation with experience in project management and primary research, including questionnaire design, survey interviews, and data processing to conduct a survey of consumers in rural and remote areas of Australia and undertake analysis of the survey results.

The survey will relate to the awareness of, and demand for, the Australian Broadband Guarantee program, and broadband services more generally, in rural and remote Australia.

The primary target audiences for the survey are residents over the age of 18 years and small businesses outside of metropolitan Australia. For the purposes of the survey, metropolitan areas are as defined in the Australian Broadband Guarantee program guidelines.

Non-English speaking background and Indigenous audiences should be included as represented in the community.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee provides all Australian households and small businesses with access to metro-comparable broadband services.

Under the Australian Broadband Guarantee, a metro-comparable broadband service is defined as any service that offers a minimum 512Kbps download and 128Kbps upload data speed, 3GB per month data usage at a total cost of $2500 GST inclusive over three years (including installation and connection fees).

The program offers financial assistance in the form of incentive payments to registered internet service providers to supply metro-comparable broadband services to residential and small business premises, where such services would not otherwise be available.

More information on the Australian Broadband Guarantee is available from www.dbcde.gov.au/abg.

This research activity will assist the Department to address the following two Key Performance Indicators for the program, as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statement:

- Consumers across rural and remote Australia are broadly aware of the Australian Broadband Guarantee services.

- Take-up of services is consistent with general consumer demand for broadband.

The Department envisages that the survey will be telephone based, with the possibility of focus groups, however the Department will consider alternative solutions for conducting the Survey.

The Department requires the successful Tenderer to:

a) Develop an appropriate survey methodology that:

• segments consumers by demographic profile, Internet access, and other relevant factors

• sets out a benchmark framework that serves as a basis for comparison in expected future surveys

• provides details of the proposed sample size and sourcing of respondents

b) Perform the survey in accordance with the agreed methodology

c) Analyse survey data

d) Provide draft reports for discussion that establish agreed benchmarks for future measurements. The Department will require the opportunity to comment on the draft report and have those comments addressed in the final report.

e) Provide a final report and presentation to the Department. The final report must be submitted electronically and a total of six bound and one unbound copies are required. ...

From: Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey, DCON/08/83, Category 43000000 - Information Technology Broadcasting and Telecommunications, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 30-Sep-2008

Minister for Broadband Launching Environment Challenge

The Minister for Broadband will be launching this year's Broadband Environment Challenge on 20 August 2008. The prize is for the best paper in the Telecommunications Journal of Australia (published by the ACS) on how to use telecommunications for environmental benefit. The deadline for submissions is 6 October 2008 (apply online).

The full text of last years winning papers are available in the journal online:

1. Broadband communication enables sustainable energy services, by Mike Dennis, Haley M Jones:
   
   Australia's electricity supply infrastructure requires investments exceeding $100b over the next 25 years to maintain quality of service to domestic users. Being careful to distinguish energy service needs from electricity delivery, the case is made for distributed energy services which offer improved sustainability outcomes to the traditional monolithic generation model. A key enabling technology for commercial success of the proposed paradigm is a broadband communication infrastructure. Broadband is essential in meeting the cost reduction and performance targets that would allow a distributed energy service model to succeed. Using broadband, a large number of novel business opportunities arise. A case study on solar water heaters is presented showing that a broadband enabled smart controller can realise 20% greenhouse gas savings for a conventional solar water heater and 75% savings for an electrical water heater.
   
   
2. Broadband telecommunications and urban travel, by R J Nairn:
   

   Energy consumption associated with transport is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As the information economy expands, the potential to use broadband to eliminate a percentage of daily trips grows. In particular, broadband can make it possible for a percentage of the workforce to work effectively and efficiently from home on at least one or two days a week.

   This paper explores key economic and environmental benefits of a hypothetical 5% reduction in daily trips. Using a simulation model to assess the impact on traffic flows indicates that such a reduction would result in a 5.6% reduction in greenhouse emissions in Canberra, a low-congestion city, and 17% in Sydney. It would also result in savings of 5.54% in road maintenance, accidents, motorists' time and fuel costs or about $145 million annually or $1,000 per household by 2011. In Sydney these would be 10.5% or $5 billion annually or $3,300 per household.

3. Broadband and the environment, by Roger Saunders:
   
   Availability of broadband to rural and remote communities would enable agriculturists to use Landsat, Geo-positioning and Agronomy to better manage the environment. Landsat imaging has developed significantly since the first Landsat satellite launch in 1965. Data now available from these can provide beneficial applications including improved water management, crop assessment, land clearing, soil erosion, salt contamination and pollution. Access by farmers and graziers to information and analyses from commercial organisations via high speed broadband on land conditions and the effects of some agricultural practices provides an opportunity to prevent or minimise environmental damage and support effective use of water resources.
   
   
4. The role of broadband in the quest for environmental sustainability, by Tracey Dodd:
   
   Broadband is changing the way in which we work, communicate and access information and entertainment. These changes have significant implications for environmental sustainability. Broadband is increasing the speed and capability of the Internet, generating new possibilities and making online applications far more attractive for businesses and the community. This paper discusses the role of broadband in contributing to sustainability under three headings; social, environment and economic.

Maximising Broadband Value for Australia

The Department of Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy (DCBDE) is holding workshops on how Australia can make best use of the Government's proposed National Broadband Network (NBN). Three themes are: Content, Confidence and Capability. There will then be a forum late in 2008.

Bodies such as ACS and AIIA are being consulted and members of those and similar bodies can have input. AIIA have details in their July bulletin.

ADSM Wireless Broadband

A clever marketing term I came across in Greece is ADSM. This is the term one of the mobile companies use for their HSPA broadband data service. This seems a clever way to indicate this is equivalent to an ADSL service, but mobile. The product was being heavily promoted, as were mobile phones (at times it seemed that Greece was actually called "Vodafone", with the Vodafone logo on buildings, ships and football teams).

Broadband in Malaysia

According to the local media (RM15.2b to boost broadband service), The Malaysian government is doing a RM15.2b deal (about $AU5b) with Malaysia Telecom to roll out high speed broadband, increasing household penetration from 18% to 50% by 2010. There will be three zones:

1. Growth corridors, including KL, with up to 1,000 Kbps
2. Outside the growth corridors, With 2 Mpbs
3. Rural areas, with subsidies from a Universal Service Pla (USP).

However, the exact boundaries of the three regions have not been published.

This differs from Australian Government policy which has essentially two regions: one with 12 Mbps and then an remote area with government subsidies. The Malaysian approach makes more sense, recognizing the reality that it will be feasible to provide higher speed access in densely populated city areas.

Building a resilient Australian disaster management system

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has released the report Taking a punch: Building a more resilient Australia. It argues that recent disaster planning has overemphasized terrorist attacks, which are unlikely and more effort should be devoted to natural disasters, which occur frequently in Australia. They suggest the community needs to be resilient to deal with disaster themselves, rather than assuming that if the call 000 someone will come to help.

The authors also point out that VOIP communications may make Australia more vulnerable:

VOIP (voice over internet protocols) technology is becoming of much greater importance so there will be challenges in reaching those who rely on internet access for all communications.

From: Strategic Insights 39 - Taking a punch: Building a more resilient Australia, David Templeman and Anthony Bergin, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 7 May 2008

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a Request for Proposals to Roll-out and Operate a National Broadband Network for Australia. It is likely that consumers and businesses will replace their wired phone services with VOIP over this new network. Most VOIP services are currently not designed for emergency communications, nor to operate during a mains power failure.

The RFP asks about provision of battery backup of the equipment and mentions emergency calls, but this is priority 16 out of 18. This needs to be treated as a higher priority. ICT can also improve on the previous analog telecommunications system to provide better facilities for emergency warnings and disaster recovery, such as broadcast text messages for Tsunami warning direct to the public's mobile phones and web based disaster recovery software which treats the community has participants, not just as victims.

...Commonwealth's objectives for the NBN... 16 is consistent with national security, e-security and e-safety policy objectives including compliance with laws relating to law enforcement assistance and emergency call services; ...

From: Request for Proposals to Roll-out and Operate a National Broadband Network for Australia, ATM ID DCON/08/18, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 11-Apr-2008

See also:

• E-government for emergencies
• Emergency management books:
  1. Disaster Mitigation
  2. Emergency Preparedness
  3. Business continuity planning
  4. Disaster Recovery

National Broadband Network for Australia

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a Request for Proposals to Roll-out and Operate a National Broadband Network for Australia. The Australian Government wants a fibre network to provide a minimum of 12 megabits per second to 98 per cent of homes and businesses. The government is willing to pay up to $4.7B for the roll-out and change regulations to make the system possible. There is a 114 page document detailing the requirements for the network.

One problem with the RFP is that it prescribes the use of a fibre optic network, either fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) or fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP). This precludes the use of wireless technologies which would otherwise meet the requirements. However, use of wireless from a node to the premises, covering the last few hundred metres, seems to be permitted, as there is mention of "wireless base stations" in the RFP.

Another problem with the RFP is that it does not completely match the ALP election commitment. The ALP promised "A Fibre To The Node broadband network with a minimum 12 megabits per second to 98 per cent of population", but there is no mention of "population" in the RFP, which only refers to "98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses". Companies could use this discrepancy to avoid servicing low income homes.

One positive point is that the RFP asks about provision of battery backup of the equipment and energy efficiency: "... power efficiency, including the provision of low power or “sleep mode” operation for both network and customer terminal equipment; and intelligent active measures to increase energy efficiency in the network."

Overall this is a reasonable attempt to solve a very difficult problem. Suppliers are going to have to work very hard to meet the objectives of the project:

... Commonwealth’s objectives for the NBN...

1. covers 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses;
2. is able to offer broadband services with a minimum 12 Mbps dedicated downlink transmission speed over each connection provided to a premises;
3. supports symmetric applications such as high-definition video-conferencing;
4. is able to support high quality voice, data and video services;
5. uses fibre-to-the-node or fibre-to-the-premises network architecture;
6. enables uniform retail prices on a national basis;
7. is rolled out and made operational progressively over five years from the date of execution of a contract between the Commonwealth and successful Proponent;
8. continues to promote the long-term interests of end-users;
9. has sufficient capacity to meet current and foreseeable demand and has a specified upgrade path within clear timeframes, consistent with international trends;
10. facilitates competition through open access arrangements that ensure equivalence of price and non-price terms and conditions, and provide scope for access seekers to differentiate their product offerings;
11. enables low access prices that reflect underlying costs while allowing Proponents to earn a rate of return on their investment commensurate with the risk of the project;
12. provides benefits to consumers by providing choice to run applications, use services and connect devices at affordable prices;
13. provides the Commonwealth with a return on its investment of up to $4.7 billion;
14. is compatible with the Government’s related Fibre Connections to Schools initiative;
15. meets Government requirements for the protection of Australia’s critical infrastructure;
16. is consistent with national security, e-security and e-safety policy objectives including compliance with laws relating to law enforcement assistance and emergency call services;
17. is consistent with Australia’s international obligations; and
18. facilitates opportunities for Australian and New Zealand small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to provide goods and services to the project.

From: Request for Proposals to Roll-out and Operate a National Broadband Network for Australia, ATM ID DCON/08/18, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 11-Apr-2008

Broadband Challenge Awards Presentation in Canberra on Tuesday

The December 2007 issue of the Telecommunications Journal of Australia has four papers on "Broadband for the Sustainable Environment". Robin Eckermann, the instigator of the Eckermann-TJA prize, for papers with ideas on how to help the environment using broadband, will be handing out prizes to consulting engineer Bob Nairn and Dr Mike Dennis with Haley Jones in Canberra on Tuesday. He will then be talking on Green ICT.

1. Broadband communication enables sustainable energy services, by Mike Dennis, Haley M Jones:

Australia's electricity supply infrastructure requires investments exceeding $100b over the next 25 years to maintain quality of service to domestic users. Being careful to distinguish energy service needs from electricity delivery, the case is made for distributed energy services which offer improved sustainability outcomes to the traditional monolithic generation model. A key enabling technology for commercial success of the proposed paradigm is a broadband communication infrastructure. Broadband is essential in meeting the cost reduction and performance targets that would allow a distributed energy service model to succeed. Using broadband, a large number of novel business opportunities arise. A case study on solar water heaters is presented showing that a broadband enabled smart controller can realise 20% greenhouse gas savings for a conventional solar water heater and 75% savings for an electrical water heater.

2. Broadband telecommunications and urban travel, by R J Nairn:

Energy consumption associated with transport is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As the information economy expands, the potential to use broadband to eliminate a percentage of daily trips grows. In particular, broadband can make it possible for a percentage of the workforce to work effectively and efficiently from home on at least one or two days a week.

This paper explores key economic and environmental benefits of a hypothetical 5% reduction in daily trips. Using a simulation model to assess the impact on traffic flows indicates that such a reduction would result in a 5.6% reduction in greenhouse emissions in Canberra, a low-congestion city, and 17% in Sydney. It would also result in savings of 5.54% in road maintenance, accidents, motorists' time and fuel costs or about $145 million annually or $1,000 per household by 2011. In Sydney these would be 10.5% or $5 billion annually or $3,300 per household.

FIDO Police Dog Camera

Industrial Television Limited of the UK have produced the FIDO Police Dog Camera. Like something out of the TV show Kommissar Rex (Inspector Rex), this is a wireless camera strapped to the head of a police dog for searching buildings.

While the unit on the dog is small, the operator's console is a cumbersome device worn on the chest, which includes a video tape recorder. A much smaller device would be possible if wireless broadband access was available.

There is also an optional kit available to attach the camera to a pole, for inspecting hard to read spaces in a building, which even Inspector Rex could not reach. Perhaps there should be a domestic version for inspecting the guttering at home. ;-)

The FIDO equipment is designed to meet the requirements of dog intervention and search operations, normally associated with firearms units engaged in building search activity.

Existing systems are heavy and cumbersome, and FIDO addresses both shortcomings with a simpler more user-friendly design, which reduces the weight carried by the dog by over 75%. This enables the dog to negotiate steep downward slopes without danger of overbalancing and also considerably reduces fatigue.

The system comprises a miniature television camera and radio transmitter mounted on a lightweight head harness. There is a quick-release facility, allowing the harness to be worn at all times the dog is operational if required whilst the camera is attached only when needed. Rechargeable batteries are contained in a collar, the attachment of the camera to the harness automatically making the required electrical connection.

To allow operation in darkness, infra-red lights are incorporated in the camera housing, and provide pictures in total darkness to a range of 3-5 metres from the dog.

An audio facility can be provided if required, allowing the handler to listen to any activity in the area of the dog.

Pictures are viewed on a combined video recorder/monitor/receiver unit carried by the handler. This unit is provided with a neck strap and waist belt to allow easy mobility whilst leaving the hands free.

The equipment is supplied with spare batteries for the camera and recorder units, each having a charger to allow rapid recharging. The depleted batteries that are removed from the equipment can be recharged more rapidly than they will run down in use, allowing continuous availability. ...

Police Dog Camera (FIDO) - Provisional specification:

Camera: High-resolution monochrome unit (colour is an option, but is not suitable for use in dark conditions); 75 degree angle of view (others optional).
Battery life with standard battery pack: Approximately 2.5 hours.
Weight: Total weight to be carried by dog is approximately 400g
Recorder/receiver: 8mm tape, digital recording, colour monitor with audio facility.
Battery life: Up to 8 hours
Range indoors will depend on local conditions and building structure; it is most unlikely that any domestic premises will be large enough to lose signal. The system has been tested in industrial premises and has provided excellent pictures through three floors and 100 metres of building. Outdoors range will be in excess of 500 metres.

An alternative version is available for users who already possess recording facilities, for example an existing camcorder or similar unit. This has a base station comprising a receiver/monitor unit only with a video output for the external recording device.

From: Police Dog Camera (FIDO) - General description, Industrial Television Limited, 2007

Broadcaster Bailout Boosts Bush Broadband

Yesterday AUSTAR announced it would sell 2.3GHz AND 3.5GHz spectrum to the Optus/ Elders OPEL venture for their WiMAX network in regional Australia. As I mentioned in a series of talks on broadband in regional Australia last September, the lack of dedicated spectrum was a flaw in the original Opel plan, which the Austar deal now largely solves.

AUSTAR originally purchased the spectrum for Pay TV. Opel's WiMax network would be technically capable of carrying Pay TV, but there is no mention of it in the announcement and Optus provide a rival Pay TV service. There may be a need for the government to legislate to require open access for Pay TV on the WiMax system.

The ALP's broadband policy did not specifically mention WiMax and during the election campaign they criticized its coverage. However, it is likely the new ALP government will include it in the plans and it would provide a lower cost way to provide services outside the range of ADSL.

Australian Broadband Ranks 12th in OECD

The OECD has released annual broadband statistics to June 2007. These show broadband subscribers in OECD countries increased 24% to 18.8 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Australia is in 12 th place at at 22.7 per 100, which is an acceptable figure. The countries ahead of us are small places with bad climate, where it is easy to run broadband cable and no one wants to go outside and do anything else anyway. ;-)

The OECD noted Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and Fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) comprise 8% of broadband connections and accelerating. Japan are at 36% and Korea 31% fibre. But I wonder if the high proportion of mobile phone Internet-like users in these countries are distorting the figures by not being counted as Internet users.

There is a footnote in the report for the Australian statistics which got the media and politicians excited, which says: "DCITA estimation in absence of official ABS statistics ". This lead to speculation that the government was cooking the books to make Australia look good. However, it seems that this is just because the latest ABS statistics available were to March 2007, so DCITA had to make a projection for June.

My own estimate for Australia is 22.9 per 100 population, which is higher than the DCITA one, but within an acceptable margin of error and would not change the country rankings. I worked this out from the latest ABS statistics, which were 4.34 million non dial-up subscribers (ie broadband), or about 21.2 per 100 population in March 2007. The broadband subscribers were increasing at about 2.7% per month, so allowing for three months increase this comes out to 22.9 per 100 population.

The next Australian Bureau of Statistics ICT Reference Group meeting is on Thursday morning and I assume this will be discussed.

---

Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, by technology, June 2007

	DSL	Cable	Fibre/ LAN	Other	Total	Rank	Total Subscribers
Denmark	21.3	9.7	2.9	0.4	34.3	1	1 866 306
Netherlands	20.4	12.7	0.4	0.0	33.5	2	5 470 000
Switzerland*	20.5	9.3	0.0	0.9	30.7	3	2 322 577
Korea	10.1	10.6	9.2	0.0	29.9	4	14 441 687
Norway	22.7	4.5	1.8	0.7	29.8	5	1 388 047
Iceland	29.0	0.0	0.2	0.6	29.8	6	90 622
Finland	24.4	3.7	0.0	0.8	28.8	7	1 518 900
Sweden	17.9	5.6	4.6	0.4	28.6	8	2 596 000
Canada**	11.9	12.9	0.0	0.1	25.0	9	8 142 320
Belgium	14.5	9.2	0.0	0.1	23.8	10	2 512 884
United Kingdom	18.4	5.3	0.0	0.0	23.7	11	14 361 816
Australia***	18.3	3.4	0.0	0.9	22.7	12	4 700 200
France	21.4	1.1	0.0	0.0	22.5	13	14 250 000
Luxembourg**	19.8	2.4	0.0	0.0	22.2	14	105 134
United States**	9.3	11.5	0.6	0.7	22.1	15	66 213 257
Japan	10.8	2.9	7.6	0.0	21.3	16	27 152 349
Germany	20.2	1.0	0.0	0.1	21.2	17	17 472 000
Austria	11.4	6.6	0.0	0.6	18.6	18	1 543 518
Spain	13.3	3.6	0.0	0.1	17.0	19	7 483 790
New Zealand	14.6	1.1	0.0	0.8	16.5	20	683 500
Italy	15.4	0.0	0.4	0.0	15.8	21	9 307 000
Ireland	11.1	1.6	0.0	2.6	15.4	22	653 000
Portugal	9.2	5.4	0.0	0.1	14.7	23	1 555 641
Czech Republic	5.5	2.5	0.3	3.9	12.2	24	1 252 300
Hungary	6.8	4.7	0.0	0.1	11.6	25	1 170 290
Poland	5.5	2.4	0.0	0.1	8.0	26	3 040 000
Greece**	7.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	7.1	27	787 000
Slovak Republic	3.9	0.8	1.1	1.0	6.8	28	368 454
Turkey	5.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.2	29	3 767 912
Mexico	3.5	1.0	0.0	0.1	4.6	30	4 804 282
OECD	11.6	5.4	1.4	0.3	18.8		221 020 786

Notes: All data are supplied by member governments unless otherwise noted. Data are provided to member governments for verification before publication.

* Data is from the Swiss government and the national cable association

** OECD estimation based on company reporting

*** DCITA estimation in absence of official ABS statistics

Wireless Broadband for Regional Australia

In September I gave a series of talks on broadband in regional Australia. , including the WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 wireless service being set up be the OPEL consortium (with a government subsidy). In October Professor Reg Coutts, Director of the ACS Telecommunications Board, had a very useful article published comparing different WiMax options and 3G for rural broadband.

Professor Coutt argues that the 5.8GHz band Opel proposes to use is not suitable for broad WiMAX deployment, but that 2.3GHz would be for rural Australia except the Northern Territory. As he points out most of the 2.3GHz band is held by another company, Austar. Unwired already provide a service in some Australian cities based on "pre-WiMAX" technology (I use a similar service from iBurst).

I share Professor Coutt's skepticism over the claims for early adoption of WiMax and, as he points out, rooftop antennas will be needed to get adequate range out of it in regional Australia.

However, in my opinion, it is ultimately an issue of economics not technology: can Optel get enough customers for their WiMax service to provide a return on their investment? One way this might happen is by the customers paying for more of the cost of the infrastructure. By requiring the customers to have longer range roof mounted antennas, Opel can build fewer base stations. If they were to also implement a mesh network, or WiFi redistribution, that would further spread the cost and may make the system pay for itself quicker.

...WiMAX has arisen very rapidly in parallel with mobile technologies such as 3G as a serious alternative in many applications. The purpose of this article is to help separate fact from hyperbole that inherently pervades the technology space. ...

WiMAX conforms to two broad standards, the IEEE802.16d standard decided in 2004 for which certified equipment is available and the other mobile WiMAX IEEE802.16e standard decided in 2005 for which certified equipment has yet to appear. ...

In Australia Telstra has rolled out its 3G network Next G at 850MHz to encompass the earlier rural CDMA network which in addition to providing 3G mobile services can with the upgrade to HSPA offer wireless broadband service to rural users. ...

A new player OPEL, jointly owned by Optus and Elders, now has won the Government contract to roll out a wireless broadband service by June 2009 in competition with Telstra based on WiMAX. ...

As well as doing a broad comparative assessment of WiMAX and HSPA for their claimed benefits, my analysis has considered a "hypothetical rural town" where DSL is range limited to 4km from a central exchange. From our modelling and canvassing of industry-wide perspectives, it is my opinion that both WiMAX at 2.3GHz and HSPA at 850MHz for rural application can provide similar user data rates of 8-12 Mbit/s expected of ADSL1 and ADSL2+ within what is termed the dominance zone of a single base station site. ...

While the dominance zone would be about 8km out from the base station, the service area for acceptable service would extend beyond this out to nearly 20km for WiMAX and 35km for HSPA, but where the user data rate would drop to about 2Mbit/s. ...

In summary, I believe that the WiMAX technology developments will divert the longer term technology evolution towards 4G which will exploit the flexibility strengths of WiMAX.

However, in my opinion it is critical that Australia maintain its credibility as a sophisticated, timely adopter of the best of global technology and should resist being used as a test market to reduce technology risk for global suppliers rather than supporting sustainable rural infrastructure investment. ...

From: "Rural broadband wireless", Prof Reg Coutts,Information Age, 23/10/2007 00:37:41

Australian Wireless Broadband with consumer cooperation?

Media reports indicate that UK company Fon have done a deal with telco BT to provide home WiFi hotspots. The idea is that consumers can allow their home broadband connected WiFi to be accessible to others, in return for access to theirs or for a fee. If this works as a business model it could be applied to lower the cost or extend the coverage of the Opel WiMax network.

Using $958 million from the Australian Government "Australia Connected" program, OPEL (joint venture of Optus and Elders) will install 1,361 WiMax base stations (mostly on existing Optus phone towers). Each base station is supposed to have a range of 20 km, but even so will have difficulty covering the proposed 638,000 square kilometres by the planned 30 June 2009. This will particularly a problem in hilly parts of Australia, as was pointed out to me by the local wireless pioneers when I gave talks on broadband in Tasmania last month.

Opel have not finalized the details of exactly what version of WiMax or frequencies they will use. They have indicated they are likely to choose 802.16d (aka 802.16-2004 or "fixed MiMax"). WiMax on the 5.4GHz or 5.8GHz spectrum under a class licence.

One way to make the networks stretch further would be to make use of the consumer installed equipment to relay the service to other consumers. There is work underway on 802.16j, mobile multi-hop relay (MMR) extensions to MiMax. This would allow a mesh, grid, or repeaters to route data through one or more customer units to extend the range of the network. Those standards are not ready, but Opel might choose a pre-standard implementation from one vendor.

Also Opel could extend the reach of the network, by having WiFi hotspots on the consumer WiMax base stations, as Fon/BT are doing in the UK. This copuld be used to relay the service around a set of farm buildings, between small hobby farms or in a town. This could also be used with WiFi equipped smartphones, PDAs and cordless handsets, to provide a home phone service.

See also:

• Why Max? Demystifying Broadband options for Tasmania
• Books on WiMax
• Products: Smartphones, Wi-Fi Skype Phones, Wi-Fi Gadgets
  

Wireless Broadband in Regional Australia Now

The Internet at Influence Forum 2007 provides an example of the use of wireless broadband outside the city. The media room for the event has twenty laptops being services by one WiFi router linked to the Internet by wireless broadband. This all seems to be working fine, but I wonder what it costs.

The router is a NetComm N3G001W 3G Wireless Router. This looks much like any other domestic router, with an antenna for WiFi. But in addition it has a slot for a PC Card. The slot has a a wireless card for Telstra NextG broadband in it. The NextG card has two postage stamp size paddle antennas up. So far this is working very well.

Paul Twomey on the Future of the Internet

Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN, just finished his talk on the future of the Internet at Influence Forum 2007. He talked about the need for broadband, Internet security, the transition from IPV4 to IPV6 and their implications for Australia.

Paul was in Bangalore recently and mentioned how the outsourcing industry there was dependent on Internet addressing working (as provided by ICANN). The outsourcing industry depends on good communications and on there being one network everyone is on. He used the analogy of TCP/IP as a flatbed truck, with DNS as the addressing for deliveries. If had have made this a container truck, this would be an even better analogy, with the standard ISO containers moving from truck to ship to train, the way IP data packets move from network to network.

Paul mentioned that ICANN supported the use of multiple languages on the Internet. But the issue of multi-byte Asian languages is still contentious. This is an issue more generally with ICT standards.

Paul then gave his own personal view of where he saw the Internet going in the next ten years. One interesting comment was the innovation with the Internet happening from "the edge". Unlike the traditional telephone networks, where a few large companies decided the technical standards and the rate of introduction of innovations, with the Internet innovation can come from small developments out on the edges of the network.

Within ten years there may be 3 billion Internet users, the number perhaps exceeding those having electricity. Some Chinese provinces are already putting all villages on broadband (in my talk on broadband in Tasmania this week I will give examples from India).

Mobile wireless will be the normal mode of use in developing nations. Broadband will increase to provide 100 mbps to 1Gbps to home users.

Machine to machine will be a growth area for the Internet, with cars and planes having internal networks, utility monitoring, geo location and sensor networks. The last few of these are potential areas of growth in Australia and I will be suggesting them as growth areas for the Australian economy in Hobart on Wednesday.

Paul pointed out that as VoIP is used more, emergency location becomes an issue. The location of conventional phones are known, so the emergency services can know where to respond to a call for help. But VoIP and mobile locations are not known and some form of GPS or other geo location would be useful. Also VoIP implies free phone calls, which causes problems for telcos pricing phone services.

Voice operated computing is an option being investigated for illiterate rural users in India. Previously I looked at the Simputer, which has voice output. Such devices could also be of use in Australia.

In the future essentially all businesses will be online. One way they may differentiate their services is to use interactive games technology to the service industry. Paul used the example of the interface for the SIMS game.

At this point it struck me as odd that none of the audience had a laptop out and none seemed to be doing a "live" report to the Internet. If this was an academic IT event, there would be at least half a dozen of the audience (inlcuding me) at keyboards, reporting the event as it happened. It may be that professional journalists are not rewarded for "live" reporting, or want to do a properly researched job, or would just rather have lunch. ;-)

Paul pointed out that most TV which is broadcast is not live to air, but prerecorded. He predicted that this will be how most digital video will be provided over the Internet: not streamed live, but provided in advance for playback using a device like a TiVo. I thought this was going to happen years ago, but the intellectual property issues and business models are taking a long time to sort out.

Paul predicted more public key encryption to protect the Internet and the content on it. He predicted a continuing "arms race" between hackers and network protectors.

Paul called for the creation of a national wireless sensor network to measure environmental parameters, such as salinity and rainfall. This would be more useful than politicians and bureaucrats arguing about water and land use based on out of date information.

For Australia Paul called for "proper" broadband. He gave the example of South Korea with 1gbps to homes. He argued the debate should change to one about the services which could be provided and how to use it to reduce costs, rather than the technical details of what sort of broadband. Examples provided were video for health and aged services, particularly for rural communities.

Security

During this part of Paul's talk a heavy rainstorm started to make it hard to hear in the tent the talk was held in. This happened at the last Influence event I attended shortly before the last election, when the Minister for Communications continued an uninterrupted speech in the middle of a thunderstorm in a tent, even when water started flowing under the walls and across the floor.

Paul used the example of Estonia, which suffered a large scale and sustained cyber attack on government and business systems. Such attacks may be made by disaffected individuals, criminal gangs or governments. Australian corporations, as well as governments, need plans prepared and tested for what to do when such attacks happen. He argued that Australian governments and the financial sector were relatively well prepared, but other business sectors were not. Organizations and sectors needed to conduct "war games" using scenarios , with political and business leaders taking part, so they know what to do.

I will be talking about some of this in Hobart, with wireless devices being used for dealing with an Influenza Pandemic. It also occoured to me that one thing organsiations and governments need to do is ensure there are online outlets for legitimate dissent and discussion available. If the community feels they are not being listened to, that will legitimize protests. For the next election Online Opinion is having a new forum.

IPV4 to IPV6

Paul pointed out that IP addresses will run out in the next thre3 to six years. Some IPV4 addresses are being reallocated, but this is being addressed by moving from IPV4 to IPV6. China will have essentially moved to IPV6 for the 2008 Olympics. Australian need to plan the move now, or be left behind.

Keeping with the green theme, the event is remarkably free of the usual brochures and handouts. The media room is equipped with rows of low power laptops. There is also a podcast room for digital audio and a digital video room. Out every window you can see a golf course, which is less green. ;-)

eduroam global wireless network for education

The Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet) is coordinating wireless access to the EduRoam wireless network on Australian university campuses. The staff and students of one institution will be able to use the wireless network at any of the others around the world.

There is a brochure from AARnet explaining the system. One point is that individuals can't apply to use the system, it is only available via their organization.

So far EduRoam is being deployed in Europe and Australia. In Canberra so far the Australian Catholic University and AARNet's offices have deployed the system. It is in development at CSIRO and ANU.

Goa first wired state in Inida

A recent news report suggests that now Goa will shortly be the most "wired" state in India. In 2005 I visited India and stayed in a village in Goa for three weeks. One thing which impressed me were the tech savvy locals, with the nuns at the convent being on the Internet, cyber cafes used by locals (which not in use by the tourists) and wireless broadband available. The Goa initiative is very similar to those for connecting Australian rural areas, with fibre optic cable to towns (and local government), then wireless for remote users:

Goa is set to become the first state in India to be fully connected through a high-bandwidth broadband network. By March, the network will be rolled out together by the state government and Bangalore-based tech solutions company United Telecom Ltd in a so-called public-private partnership model.

Optic fibre cables and wireless technologies will be used across the state and will also link some 200 computer kiosks that deliver government services to the state’s residents.

United Telecom is also providing connectivity for 450 common service centres in Jharkhand.

The first phase of the Goa broadband network, connecting every taluka and district with 10gbps (gigabits per second, a measure of speed of the network) bandwidth is already complete, while the second phase, connecting panchayats in 403 villages with 1gbps connectivity, will be complete by December. Every household will get bandwidth of 2-10mbps (megabits per second) by March. ...

From: Broadband for all: Goa to be first fully wired state by March, by Regina Anthony, Mon, Aug 20 2007. 12:40 AM IST, Livemit.com, HT Media

Max Webber Library via the M7 Sydney Electronic Toll Road

The Blacktown Central Library relocated to a new building in western Sydney. The is was reviewed in Architecture Australia magazine, so I thought it worth a visit:

Surprisingly transparent, FJMT's new library for Blacktown seeks to draw in the community while also expressing the building's civic function.

The design of the Max Webber Library addresses the nature of public buildings in contemporary society and the meaning of this particular type of public building in generally under-resourced outer suburbs such as Blacktown in Sydney. Architects FJMT argue that, as a building type, the library is "the most meaningful twenty-first-century public building". ...

From: Max Webber Library, by Tom Heneghan, Architecture Australia, May/June 2006.

One thing the article did not explain is why the building is called "Max Webber", or which person by that name it is named for.

The library building is impressive, and functional. It is an oasis of calm from the adjacent shopping center. But the building is not perfect. The louvers in the glass walls praised in AA have not been correctly adjusted, admitting direct sunlight to the first floor reading area. This makes reading difficult. Also the staircase through the centre of the building looks impressive from a distance, but close up gaps beside each step are collecting dust balls.

Like the National Libraries and some state libraries, wireless Internet access is being offered. But this is only available to borrowers. Also the public access Internet terminals were not functioning when I visited.

Getting from Blacktown back to Canberra was a high technology experience along the Westlink M7, (Western Sydney Orbital) electronic toll road. This 40km road runs north to south through the west of Sydney. Electronic tags and number plate scanning are used for tolling vehicles. The roadworks also have architectural merit:

Arcing across Sydney’s west, the new M7 motorway, by Conybeare Morrison and Context, is the result of a successful collaboration between the disciplines of urban design, landscape design and engineering. ...

The M7 team has achieved a high-quality outcome, sensitive to its sculptural form, to its structure, to its place in the city and to its local environment. The success comes from the integration of the skills of the urban and landscape designers with those of the road and bridge engineers. Perhaps the ensemble would have had greater success with the inclusion of a public artist.

From: Westlink M7, by Peter Mould, Architecture Australia, January/February 2006.

I thought the restrained use of some colour on the motorway was better than the over-scale "look at me!" sculpture of Melbourne's CityLink toll road.

The one account can now be used for several Australian toll roads.

As I don't have an electronic tag (which operates via microwaves) in my car I had to pay afterwards via a web site (my car number plate was recorded electronically).

Unlike the Melbourne's CityLink electronic toll road, the M7 appears to only have toll detectors at entrances and exist to the road. This is likely to be less annoying for motorists than the Melbourne system, when the RFID e-Tag will beep several times during a trip to indicate an extra toll has been paid.

The M7 also features 40 km of sealed bicycle paths and walking paths with lighting along much of its length. There is no charge for cyclists or pedestrians on these paths. The highway goes through open countryside for much of its length, but for how much longer, with the road stimulating development?

Dial-up wireless router

Those in inner city areas with broadband access tend to forget that most of the world does not have access. I had a query from someone who could not get broadband but wanted to their dialup connection around the house. There appear to be few devices currently available to do this. They seem to have dialup included as a backup option for broadband.

There is some discussion of this online. One product I cam across was the D-Link DI 714 - Wireless router. But Iam not sure they are still available.