By February 2006, a number of industrial partners had already been identified by ODPM:

“The industrial sponsors and ‘already-engaged’ companies include IBM, Microsoft, BT, Cisco, ntl, Nortel, SAP, Intel, EDS, Cap Gemini and Northgate.”

from a note February 2006

A number of these attended the Intellect information day on 24th February 2006 and were on the platform with ODPM.

extracts of a briefing note

The ODPM has invited councils to participate in the ‘Digital Challenge’, which is a national competition to improve how the needs of local people are met through the use of technology.

The competition is open to all English councils and their partners and has an ultimate ‘prize’ of being the UK exemplar ‘Digital Community’ for 3 years from April 2007 and resources in excess of £7m.

The North East Region is expected to submit bids to the Digital Challenge by 28th April 2006 which will be considered for a further round of bidding for the ultimate prize. This report outlines some progress made to date and suggests one possible way forward towards an inclusive regional approach.

The aims of Digital Challenge are to provide:
• An environment to deepen understanding of citizen’s behavioural reactions to and requirements for e-government, access channels, user support and the customer proposition
• Universal access to e-services
• Greater take up of services by current non-users
• A test bed and evaluation platform for best practice in modern Government services
• Extended reach of services to hard to reach groups
• Piloting of high quality high speed public services

Key themes of Digital Challenge are:
• Empowerment – using ICT to give new choice, voice and empowerment to citizens
• Service transformation – radical innovation in how services are delivered to people, how they use it and their experiences
• Efficiency – sustainability and showcasing initiatives to other councils

Regional discussions regarding Digital Challenge have been held that resulted in a meeting of interested parties from across the north east taking place to consider an approach towards forming an open and inclusive regional bid under the working title ‘Digital Way’.

Service themes that were discussed (identified from the Digital Challenge and Social Exclusion Unit documents) were:
• Community Cohesion & Empowerment
• Deprived Families
• Economic Well-being
• Education, Aspiration and Attainment
• People with Disabilities
• Sure Start in Older Life

The following emerged at that meeting:
• No clear single £7m project ideas that meet the Digital Challenge objectives and themes
• A programme of projects based on the Digital Challenge objectives and themes might be a better starting point for project ideas
• A number of significant projects based around the aims of digital challenge and service themes (above) could be proposed, supported by customer needs research and a Digital Way Board.
• All councils wishing to participate could do so either by submitting their own local projects or joining others
• Projects that have not proceeded due to lack of funds could be considered
• Councils could participate alongside being part of other ‘competing’ bids
• a smaller number of ‘hot’ projects emerge, or that merging with a separate single theme project might emerge as the appropriate way forward

Much of the funding for Digital Challenge has been provided by industry and it will be necessary to engage with industrial as well as public, voluntary and community sector partners. Bids should also consider developing policy trends from the Dti, ODPM, DfES, Cabinet Office and Home Office.

It would also be necessary to illustrate buy-in from significant regional players, justification of need, track record and that there is the capacity to deliver a programme of projects that have robust, sustainable, evidence-based business cases. In addition, bids require endorsement by the Leaders of all councils involved in the partnership.

Activities in other regions have already been reported in the press and suppliers have begun courting councils with proposals. One of a series of regional information days is being held on 24th February at Slaley Hall.

It appears that £1m of the £7m prize is coming from each of DfES and DoH and £4m in kind from industrial sponsors with the remaining million being made up by £750k from ODPM and £250k from DTi. The industrial sponsors and ‘already-engaged’ companies include IBM, Microsoft, BT, Cisco, ntl, Nortel, SAP, Intel, EDS, Cap Gemini and Northgate.

Bids have to be returned to Digital Challenge by 28th April, they will then be assessed by a regional panel and two bids will go forward from the Region to the National ‘finals’ held in May/June.

Project Checklist (one interpretation)

Projects within the programme would need to meet the following criteria:
• Set vision and take next bold and radical steps in creating a digitally enabled society
• Link with Northern Way, Link Age Plus, Electronic Village Halls, Public Service Academy, LAAs, LSPs, European supported programmes, Beacon Councils, Sub Regional Partnerships, Chamber of Commerce, Science City etc
• Be in partnership with other authorities, public sector organisations, industry, intermediaries, community and / or the third sector such as existing local and national partners:
o Be developed bottom up
o Collaborative and transparent partnerships
o Community groups
o Evidence of groundbreaking partnership – social benefits
o Including links through Regional Economic Strategies
o Intermediaries
o LSP partners
o Reflect values and aspirations of local community
o Suppliers
• Address the digital divide and excluded groups
• Tangibly demonstrate the of power of digital technologies to tackle deprivation and optimise inclusion, improvements in social cohesion, economic well being and quality of life to all sections of the community. What are the tangible outcomes for
o Education sector
o Health sector
o Industry / private sector
o The most excluded groups
o Voluntary / community sector
• Build on existing investment & achievements
o Build on existing eGovernment operations (not merely support them)
o Demonstrate an alignment with local targets
o Enlarge networking
o Generate lessons for others
o Test and refine innovative new ideas
• Contribute to government policy (social, economic, environmental)
o Efficiency
o Empower citizens
o Transform Services (not just the ICT bits of it)
• Provide
o Relevant and compelling content
o Universal access via appropriate channels
• Be realistic, credible and a high probability of delivery success
• Focus on families and children and educational attainment
• Comply with Gov Connect, My Guide, eGif etc
• Be sustainable
• Plan to monitor impacts and report on benefits
• Be prepared to be a showcase to others in years 2 and 3
• Prove the project development process is sound
o Consultation
o Current state of the art, problems and issues, and how this would be helped
o Define the need, incentives and benefits
o Identifying benefits for citizens
o Identifying issues
o Show how lead to better public service delivery, encourage investment and reduce environmental degradation
o Stakeholder analysis
• Identify political issues that need overcoming

• Be approved by relevant Head of Service

When it comes to predicting the future, Dr. Ian Pearson is one futurologist who generally gets it right. Having worked as an engineer for BT he now works for future consultancy Futurizon.He spoke to the author about his vision for the IT future… (more)

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. Random House, 2001.

In recent years, Michael Pollan has spent a considerable amount of time at the top of the best-seller list with his books The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. There’s even an Omnivore’s Dilemma for Kids. My interest in his earlier book was piqued by a recent PBS special based on The Botany of Desire. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it if you have a chance to view it.

The idea behind The Botany of Desire is simply this: perhaps we are not, as we think, controlling plants for our own purposes but rather they are using our tastes to forward their own agenda, which is to extend their own range and numbers. Pollan looks at four different plants that owe much of their success to their ability to satisfy a human desire. Apples fulfill a wish for sweetness, tulips for beauty, marijuana for intoxication and potatoes satisfy the desire to have control over a food source.

Each of the four sections is interesting. Pollan is an amiable guide and the book is an entertaining read. My favorite, however, was the concluding essay on the potato. His description of what goes into growing a potato on a typical Idaho potato farm is an eye-opener. More than that, a shocker. It’s more like a chemical factory process than something you would connect with a garden. The regimen of pesticides and fertilizers that are applied relentlessly across the season is mindboggling. Part of the driving force behind this method of farming is another corporation, McDonald’s, who require a particular type of potato, the Russet Burbank, to produce the perfect fry, thus promoting a monoculture of Burbanks.

From this discussion Pollan seques into a discussion of the New Leaf potato, a genetically-modified vegetable that has Basillus thuringiensis (Bt) a common bacterium found in the soil introduced into its genetic makeup. The Bt makes the potato resistant to the scourge of potato plants, the Colorado Potato Beetle. How fields and fields, countless acres, of this genetically-modified plant would affect pollinators like bees or the resistance of non-Bt plants or weeds, or even the long-term health of people eating it is not well understood. Ultimately, there is agreement that the attacking beetles would become resistant to the modified plant, perhaps in 30 years. Then what? Monsanto, the developer of the plant doesn’t know. They say: We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Trust us!. Pollan also briefly discusses another wonder from the giant corporation, the terminator seed, a seed that has been modified not to reproduce. I suppose it’s overly dramatic to call such an invention the incarnation of evil, but really, what kind of greed does it take to even conceive of such a thing?

No discussion of potatoes could fail to look at the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish were among the first Europeans to embrace the plant, introduced from the Americas by the Spanish. The potato played a vital role in allowing the population of Ireland to climb from three million to eight million in less than a century. Young men could marry earlier and support larger families. As the supply of labour increased, wages fell, keeping the Irish impoverished. When the blight that destroyed the potato crop hit in 1846, and again in 1846 and ‘48 one in every eight persons died, and thousands emigrated to America. Ireland’s population was halved within a decade.

The argument for commercial farms and genetically-modified crops rests in part on the view that the world’s population cannot be fed by any other means. It seems that we are perhaps heading in the same direction as the 19th-century Irish. Our population has grown too large to be supported by conventional farming methods. When the cheap oil that fuels it all collapses, what then?

My favorite part of the book is the conclusion, in which Pollan talks about his own garden, the neat, orderly rows of the spring season, the wild abandon of the late summer. He speaks of the pleasure of digging up potatoes with a rapture that leaves me longing to get out in the dirt. It’s been a few years since I grew potatoes. Hmm. Next year…potatoes.

La 1ère étape de l’Extreme Sailing Asia a eu lieu ce week end et jusqu’à mardi à Hong Kong. Six catamarans Extreme 40 sont en compétition sur ce nouveau circuit.

Gilles Chiorri/OC Events

C’est l’équipage de BT, présent également sur le circuit européen qui pointe en tête au classement provisoire devant Oman Sail Masirah, dont l’équipage est champion en titre de l’iShares Cup 2009, en 3ème place on retrouve un nouveau venu sur le circuit Extreme 40, l’équipage de Red Bull mené par Roman Hagara.

I noticed that someone found this site after searching for organic controls for the little wormies that attack broccoli, cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.  These little wormies are actually caterpillars, but I don’t care what they’ll turn into when they attack my veggies.  I begin by smooshing (yes, it’s a technical term, like wormies, buggies, and veggies) the caterpillars I can see.  Next, I apply an organic control.  Your best solution is to use Bacillus Thuringiensis, commonly known as BT.  It is easiest to find in the form of Dipel Dust, but you need to check the Dipel Dust carefully to make sure that it is organic, as not all Dipel Dust carrying agents are.  BT will kill the bad bugs but only the bad bugs because it’s a  bacteria with limited impact.  I dust on BT with a food strainer that I use  exclusively in the garden.  Of course one of the great things about winter gardening is that if you wait a few weeks, frost will reduce your buggie, wormie problems.  Happy organic gardening!

Broccoli

My internet has gone, I don’t know where its gone, its just gone, I was online around 4:00 am this morning, it was working then, I tried to go online around an hour and a half later and it wasn’t working, its now 11:30 am and its still not working, I’m getting withdrawal symptoms, I can’t check my e-mail, my Facebook or my blog for comments. I’m assuming that its something to do with the weather, we had storms, strong winds and non stop torrential rain all yesterday and last night, many parts of Cumbria have had flooding, the weird thing is that my phone is still working but my internet isn’t, I guess this is something to do with the fact that they are different types of signals with (perhaps, I don’t know) different lines, anyway my internet isn’t working so I can’t post this until it is, I wonder how long that’s gonna be.

Ok so in the meantime I had my doctors appointment this morning, I just got back, if you remember I have gone a couple of days over my allowed self certified sick leave (I’m allowed 5 days) so needed a sick note from the doctor to cover me, he has given me a sick note to go back to work on Monday, he said my cold had developed into a sinus infection and although I can’t read his writing too well he appears to have put something of the sort on the sick note. I’m still continuing to improve, my cold is a lot better and the infection seems to be clearing up nicely, I didn’t sleep last night so I’m tired and a little headachy but other than that I seem to be getting better.

I have just been on the phone with BT and apparently there is a major fault affecting the internet access of some customers for my dialling code, they are saying they expect it to be fixed within 24 hours, so there you go, the weather has hit BT, perhaps my exchange is under water !!

Its 11:00 am on Saturday morning and my internet has returned, HURRAH, I had heard a tale of a fibre optic cable which crossed a bridge and after the flooding the bridge was no longer there, the story was that it could have been the middle of next week at least before we got the internet back. Well if the bridge story was true then very well done BT for getting us back online double quick, if the bridge tale wasn’t fact, well still well done BT for not dragging my absence out further than it has been.

Anyway I’m back after a mercifully brief gap in my service, hi folks.

and probably never will be.

My brother has been moving house this week, which has caused him to spend a certain amount of time off net, and to get very angry with BT (though it all got sorted out in the end [1]). Sadly my suggestion to get a Vodafone 3G dongle doesn’t seem to have worked out as an interim measure – coverage isn’t always what it looks like on the maps (I have similar issues with my Three data service, which is great on my commute and in the office, but patchy to problematic if I ever need it at home).

It seems that salvation has come in the form of an open WiFi network that he can mooch off, though I wonder how long that state of affairs will remain in place. There seem to be three actors at work here:

1. Consumers (demand) would like to have ubiquitous access everywhere. They’re prepared to pay something to get this, but would prefer for things to be free at the point of access. Consumers desperately want the fallacies of distributed computing to be true. A lot of the time consumers sit within their little bubbles of connectivity which makes it seem like everything is OK, but then a trip abroad [2] or a house move comes along and burst the bubble.
2. Telcos (supply) have to deal with the fallacies, and making those fallacies appear to be true costs some serious money. The most gross distortions appear to arise around roaming charges, where the commonly accepted model seems to be similar to the hotel telephone – let’s screw the travelling user, they can always expense it to their company. I suspect that this isn’t a well calculated mechanism to maximise revenue, and that there’s something like the Laffer curve that applies to data charges; but the telcos I know aren’t like Formula 1 teams and investment banks, and don’t employ armies of quants to figure this stuff out.
3. The media distribution industry (an externality to this market) would very much like the network and its fallacies to pack up, go home and let them return to a comfy oligopoly over physical distribution of content. Through their bought and paid for politicians they hope to get international law and private militias to interfere in the running of the network. If an entire town can be booted off the net for the ‘crime’ of one person then extending those bubbles of connectivity is going to get harder rather than easier. Proposed ‘three strikes’ laws would mean that only an idiot would leave a WiFi connection open, as any intended generosity could quickly turn into disconnection for them and their entire household.

Of course this is an overly simplistic view of the picture. There are complications:

• Telcos like BT would like to offer services over unlicensed spectrum, which is why they incentivise users of their newer WiFi routers to provide virtual access points for OpenZone subscribers and FON users.
• There is a 4th actor in the picture – the bad guy (who is another externality to the market). The bad guy doesn’t care if you meant to share your network; if it’s open or weakly protected (e.g. with WEP [3]) then it’s his for the taking. The bad guy won’t confine himself to a email collection and a some light surfing, if he wants to download a few gigs of movies [4] over bittorrent then he will. This is troublesome in a world of capped tariffs, and huge problem in a world of ‘three strikes’.

Returning to the central point… We’re increasingly living in a world where the network provides many of the things we take for granted, and whilst we might not feel actual pain when it’s not there a certain degree of discomfort may arise. People talk about their ‘comfort zones’ in all sorts of contexts, but increasingly one of the many boundaries of significance will be the connectivity envelope. The laws of physics and economics will always assert their limitations, but we’re on the verge of legislation making things much worse than they need to be. Of course if you’re reading this then you’re almost certainly in a democracy where you can use your vote to push things back into shape?

[1] thanks @jobsworth

[2] it was interesting to see @doctorow asking the question I asked before about why there aren’t any shops in airport arrivals selling PAYG 3G data cards/SIMs, though so far as I can tell there isn’t a viable 3G PAYG offering at all now in the US. Of course the Acela should have WiFi just like the NXEC main line.

[3] most WEP protected access points will succumb to tools like aircrack-ng in less than 5 minutes, and all the bits you need can be bundled together in a convenient USB bootable distro like BackTrack.

[4] and let’s not even get started about what those movies might be, and how much trouble you’re in if they’re found on your hard disk rather than the bad guys (as once he 0wned your WLAN popping your C:\ drive was a doddle).

Sepertinya Ms.Jutek makin menggila aja deh!!! sekarang dia ga masuk lagi tnp bilang!!!

Ah cepet tua nih gw lama2 disini…

Kyknya thn depan gw mau mengajukan opsi ah…gw pokoknya ga mau brg dia lagi…gw atau dia yg keluar

More than 40 underused traditional red telephone boxes are looking to be adopted by parish councils in Essex…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: cheap cell phone. The blog is also related to: cheap phone.

When packing pets - remember to punch a few air holes and pack with extra 'absorbent' polystyrene.

Moving out for the first time into your own space is a huge deal and often many things in preparation for leaving get forgotten about. So i have come up with a checklist to help you plan your move. Usually people have anything from a week to a month to move into rented accommodation, but if you’ve bought a house you must give a minimum of a month notice. (That’s how i like to consider it fair)

1. Change of address (and phone number) – unless you’re not bothered whether your parents still get your post if you’re moving into a short-term let then this isn’t something you need to worry about. The real movers need to remember all of those important ‘societies’ that send you letters every month.

• Mobile phone
• Bank(s)/Building Society(s)/Loan companies
• Car insurance
• Sky /BT / Internet provider
• Work
• Memberships to clubs / Gym

(Remember most of these places might offer ‘paper-free billing’ which will help protect the environment)

1. Hire your household movers – either hire a van to drive yourself for a day or hire some nice men with a van to move it for you. Either way it, if you have a set day to move into your house then be prepared, and hire a van so you can move it all in at once

1. Arrange a day and time to pick up the house keys at least the day before moving.

1. Pack the small/old/unused stuff first, that way all the junk you never use can be thrown away – to minimise the needed storage space in the next house.

Moving home can be simple if you leave yourself plenty of time to plan and organise. Don’t leave it last minute and crucially inform people of your change of address and telephone number.

It took me one week end to be successful. The instructions found around in the web are far from being complete. Navigami is a very nice Java application to build tracks on landmarks in easy and intuitive way, in my opinion better than Nokia Maps (I still do not understand why the compass in Navigami is not very accurate: if you know why, please tell me what should I do). Nevertheless, the installation of Navigami maps is quite tricky. Read below and follow step by step the instructions. I assume you know how to pair devices via BT.

.Hardware and basic software you need

- Pc with Windows XP, JAVA and Nokia PC suite
- Mobile Device with Java Support (like Nokia 6700)
- External or Integrated GPS Receiver (integrated in Nokia 6700)
- BT dongle

1) Download of the necessary additional software

a.    Go http://www.navigami.com/download/navigami.jar and download the .JAR file to your PC on c:\ – I did not need the .JAD
b.    I’ve a DIKOM BT dongle. With Windows XP BT drivers nothing worked out. I needed to download the WIDIKOM drivers. You find them at  http://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php – save the package on your PC.
c.    Download and save to your PC in c:\ the file comproxy.jar http://www.navigami.com/download/comproxy.jar and in c:\Windows\system32 the file rxtxSerial.dll http://www.navigami.com/download/rxtxSerial.dll

2)    Installation protocols for Win XP and Nokia 6700 mobile phone and BT setup

a.    Install the WIDIKOM BT drivers. If you have already installed the XP BT drivers, leave them there and just don’t use them. Restart the PC. To check if your WIDIKOM drivers work, try to connect via BT your mobile and Nokia PC Suite. It should work out easy. After the test I left the Nokia PC suite open and connected to the mobile – I do not know if it is necessary.

b.    If Nokia PC Suite works properly via BT, now it is time to setup the COM port you will use to connect navigami and your PC via BT. Go to advanced configuration/local services of the BT WIDIKOM program (right click on BT WIDIKOM taskbar icon) and push Add serial device (in my case COM17 came out – I set secure connection not required). Follow the requests to finish the setup of the new COM port. Now the port to exchange data between Navigami and XP is set.

c.    Install navigami.jar on your mobile. Drag it on Nokia PC Suite or just double click on it, as .jar should be opened by default by Nokia PC suite. Now it is time to go out of your cave for some minutes to get Navigami memorize at least one GPS coordinate (this will be the coordinate used to auto download the maps later). Start Navigami when you are outside with open sky on your head, stay in Navigami main screen so that you can give a look to the satellite icon for satellite lock. My Nokia 6700 takes as long as 10-15 minutes to have satellite locks. When I am lucky, 1-5 minutes are enough. While waiting, play around with Navigami to get confident with it, as no manual is written yet – do not play with networking settings, though! Once you get the satellite lock, you can save the position as a landmark and go back home to your PC.

d.    Install comproxy.jar on the PC. XP Start button/Run and write java -jar c:\comproxy.jar – a DOS window opens together with a small window. In the small window select COM17 (or the COM number you obtained in BT WIDIKOM when you added the COM port) and press Start.

3)    Navigami connection to PC (tricky step)

Open Navigami on your mobile and go on Settings/Network. Set the Proxy on Bluetooth, click on Search, find your PC and select it. Then tick the Enable option and left soft key/save . If going out and back in the menu Settings/Network the option Enable does not remain ticked, it means there was no connection between comproxy on the PC and navigami on the mobile. Be sure you selected the same COM port in Widikom and comproxy. Be sure your devices are paired via BT. If so, when you went on Settings/Network and set Proxy on Bluetooth, after search Navigami should have found your PC and announced “PC name” connected. If you are not able to pair navigami with comproxy, then no need to go futher

4)    Download of the maps

Now the magic part. Go on Maps/Manage Maps on Navigami. You should get a white screen with the last coordinates and a small red dot in the middle. This means: you’ve no maps installed. Bring the DOS window on the front in your PC – just to see what happens when you request map download in the next step. Left soft key/Download maps on the mobile. If your mobile tries to connect via wap, a error 27 will return. If this happens, it means your comproxy and navigami are not paired. Try to fix the problem by repeating the previous steps more carefully. If you see code scrolls on the DOS window and the mobile screen becoming red and maps appearing: CONGRATULATIONS! You installed the map relative to your position!  Enjoy now tracking and exploring!

And now my question: If you can help me to surf the web on my Nokia 6700 through BT, I will be very thankful I did not manage it, yet.

Witam wszystkich!

W końcu udało mi się znaleźć odpowiednią ilość czasu na podzielenie się znalezionymi informacjami. Część z nich została już przedstawiona przez kolegów z innych zespołów, zarówno w treści wpisów na blogach, jak i w komentarzach do nich. Odsyłam zatem szczególnie do wypowiedzi  Piotra Ciecierskiego z zespołu zajmującego się sieciami optycznymi oraz Rafała Żukowskiego z grupy pracującej nad radiowymi sieciami NGN.

Ja natomiast chciałbym przywołać kilka przykładów migracji stacjonarnych sieci telekomunikacyjnych do sieci NGN. Pokrótce opiszę jak te procesy wyglądały w Wielkiej Brytanii, Chinach i Słowacji.

Na początek Wielka Brytania.

W 2004 r operator narodowy, BT, ogłosił plan migracji w kierunku sieci konwergentnej. Nową sieć nazwał siecią 21. wieku. Plan obejmował zbudowanie sieci NGN, przez zastępowanie sieci szkieletowej PSTN siecią IP opartą na architekturze systemu IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) w ciągu sześciu lat. Plan BT przewidywał budowę sieci IP/MPLS, konsolidację istniejącej infrastruktury NGN oraz rozbudowę węzłów MSANs (Multi Service Access Nodes) w celu świadczenia usług szerokopasmowych. Do końca 2005 r. szerokopasmowa sieć BT była w stanie obsługiwać 99,6% swoich abonentów [1]. Węzły MSANs obsługują także abonentów usług POTS (Plain Old Telephone Services), bez konieczności specjalnych modyfikacji wyposażeń w dostępie abonenckim. Operator BT przewidywał,  że do 2008 r. ponad 50% abonentów PSTN zostanie przeniesionych do sieci NGN. Czy się udało ? – tego niestety nie wiem. Może ktoś z Was posiada takie informacje ?

W 1998 r.  w tym kraju było 87,4 mln łączy abonenckich,  a w 2004 r. 299 mln!! [1] Mimo, że przyrost sieci szerokopasmowej wynosił 200% w skali roku, to w 2008 r. zaledwie 11% abonentów mieszkaniowych miało szerokopasmowy dostęp do Internetu. Podstawowym czynnikiem zmuszającym do modernizacji sieci w Chinach nie był na pewno wiek infrastruktury (10-15lat), a raczej  wzrost ekonomiczny kraju oraz wzrost potrzeb użytkowników, które spowodowały ‘wzrost ruchu’ w sieci. Z tego powodu China Telecom rozpoczął budowę sieci nakładkowej NGN.  ”W czerwcu 2003 r. operator Shanghai Telecom, będący filią operatora China Telecom, podpisał z firmą Alcatel kontrakt na metropolitalną sieć NGN. Kontrakt dotyczył instalacji w sieci miejskiej Szanghaju urządzenia softswitch, bram typu Media Gateway oraz urządzeń typu Litespan Multi-Service Access Gateways, zapewniających integrację głosu, danych oraz innych mediów opartych na bazie technologii ADSL i Ethernetu.”[1]

Będąca w bardzo złym stanie na początku lat 90tych XXw infrastruktura telekomunikacyjna Słowacji, była remontowana fragmentami z użyciem kabli światłowodowych, systemów SDH (transport) i central cyfrowych (komutacja). Do 2000 r. ponad 70% sieci PSTN było już siecią cyfrową.  Nie modernizowano jednak infrastruktury sieci na terenach wiejskich, mimo, że składała się z central elektromechanicznych. W takiej sytuacji duże problemy stwarzało zapewnienie odpowiedniej jakościpołączeń wychodzących. Tym bardziej, że “jeszcze w 2000 r. na 100 połączeń przypadało 28 błędnych”[1]. W 2004 r.  Slovak Telekom, bedący już praktycznie częścią Deutsche Telecom,  zawarł kontrakt z Alcatelem na zastąpienie fragmentów analogowych siecią następnej generacji! Tak! ST zdecydował się stworzyć infrastrukturę sieci NGN na terenach wiejskich! W ramach tego kontraktu zastąpiono 309 małych central analogowych, obsługujących w sumie 211 000 abonentów, jednym urządzeniem typu Alcatel 5020 softswitch [1]. Pominięcie etapu cyfrowej sieci PSTN pozwoliło zminimalizować długoterminowe koszty rozbudowy sieci.

To tyle ode mnie. Więcej ciekawostek poznacie w następnym odcinku
Karol Traczykowski

Bibliografia:
[1] W. Michalski - “Strategie migracji sieci telekomunikacyjnych w kierunku sieci NGN w wybranych krajach”

Come December, Little Miss $hannon Elaine turns into walking down comforter because nothing makes me more cranky than the cold. While I’ve semi-adjusted to the brisk-as-fuck Bay Area, the chill seems to seep into my bones, and you can find me three minutes after coming home from work stripping down to my chonies only to jump into the my nearest pair of sweats (boys XL please!) a hoodie, and my Ugg moccasins (yeah, I said the U word). This isn’t exactly a kosher practice in my household as we have a baby blue carpet which we try to keep clean, so there is a no-shoe-in-the-house policy, but I’m the princess of the posse and no one ever says shit to me.

ANYway, while cruising K-loop today I came across these sole-less bad boys, and they’re already wish listed for my next order, which will include this as well, because I need more work clothes. Fuck a dress code.