Bridging Silicon Valley and the Heartland
At the end of last month, in one of his first announcements as the new FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, made a call for nominations for a new advisory committee. The aim of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee is to “provide advice and recommendations to the Commission on how to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet access.” The deadline for nominations was this past Wednesday and yours truly filed an application.
My many travels and discussions with the many members of the Viodi View audience and beyond convinced me that it was worth applying if for no other reason than to have another opportunity to tell the stories of people who have brought broadband to locales that otherwise might still be on dial-up. It was also chance to advance an idea that could encourage a grassroots approach to building out broadband, while helping to stretch limited federal dollars.
Intelligence in Devices and Cars Driving Bandwidth #CES2017
Big data, IoT and 5G were three of the highlighted technologies at Broadband Deluxe, presented by Team Lightbulb at International CES2017. John Abel of Team Lightbulb discusses how these different, but complementary, technologies are going to play a huge role in creating an intelligent transportation system. Abel points out, that, with mesh configurations the cars could be part of the network itself and that ITS will drive massive amounts of bandwidth demands.
Shape-shifting Network Hardware #CNV2016
A knock against software defined hardware using “white-box” CPUs is its performance compared to purpose-built hardware that incorporates ASICs or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) perform, but cannot adapt as needed. FPGAs provide flexibility, but programming in VHDL isn’t a skill of the typical IT network administrator. Enter Netcope Technologies and their demonstration of their P4 to VHDL compiler and Netcope FPGA (PCI Express) Board (NFB) that plugs into commodity PC hardware.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts:
- Artificial Intelligence and robotics is an overnight success that started some five decades ago in the form of SHAKEY the robot. SHAKEY and his creators were recognized with an IEEE Milestone last night at the Computer History Museum.
- RT @SpeedSociety “Autonomous tractors – Productivity like you have never seen before.”
- “Rapid Growth in Defacements, Who was Hit, Who is Attacking.” Thanks @wordfence for this important message.
The Korner – The Instant Electric Fill-Up #CES2017
One of the hurdles to the mass adoption of electric vehicles is the time it takes to recharge the batteries. Simply, even the fastest charge doesn’t compare to the refuel time of an internal combustion powered vehicle. Atmo Auto Power aims to change that with its robotic battery changing platform and demonstrated a working full-scale prototype of that platform at International CES 2017.
