A Series of Tubes

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A Series of Tubes #94: Riverbed’s Steve Dixon on optimisation and the NBN, Stil on IT journalism, Apple and Google

Slow links aren’t the only thing that makes IP connections slow; there’s also the chattiness of IP itself. In Tubes this week, Riverbed’s Steve Dixon puts his case that optimisation could help us get more out of the networks we have, while we wait for the advent of the NBN.
And in this week’s regular spot, Stilgherrian and Tubes talk about whether Government 2.0 can help SMEs deal with governments, whether the mainstream media understands Internet infrastructure, and the implications of the stoush between Apple and Google.

 

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A Series of Tubes #93: Pacnet on the NBN and growth; Stil on meaningless babble

Pacnet’s CEO Bill Barney has seen downturns before, with a history that includes working for MCI WorldCom during (and surviving) the telco collapse that bookended the other end of this decade. And, as we hear in A Series of Tubes, he believes in the NBN – as does Pacnet Australia CEO Deborah Homewood. In this live interview, the Pacnet duo talks about surviving downturns, the importance of the NBN and international traffic.
And, fresh from discovering the downsides of trying to live-tweet the Government 2.0 presentation this week, Stigherrian asks the question “Is Twitter Meaningless Babble?” Anyone familiar with Sturgeon’s Law already knows the answer, of course!

 

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A Series of Tubes #92: Wireless at Scramjet Speeds, Stil at Techfest

How about some really fast wireless?
If 3 Gbps would be just about fast enough for you, then this week’s Tubes is a treat. Last week, NICTA showed off just that: a wireless technology aimed at the consumer market with throughput of 3 Gbps. And it’s not just pie-in-the-sky: devices can already being fabricated.
The target is strictly within the home, with a range of just ten metres, but something that could replace all your cables, including the screen cable, and could download a DVD in a few seconds is pretty exciting.
In fact, as crikey columnist, blogger, and ASOT regular Stilgherrian found out, just about everything at NICTA is interesting. Stil picks out three hot technologies from last week’s NICTA Techfest in Sydney.

 

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A Series of Tubes $91: Cyberterror sceptics? Where do you find them?

In fact, you can find at least one cyberterror sceptic as a senior fellow of Globalsecurity.org – George Smith, who blogs as Dick Destiny.
A keen reader of Smith’s writings, Tubes spoke to him to find out why he believes “cyberterror” is over-used and over-hyped, wandering around the interests of vendors, the repetition of urban myths, how Austraila’s very own cyberterror court case has become famous around the world, years after it was old news, and why coping with security is better than panic.
I should, however, include the voice quality warning that probably needs to be mandatory any time I encounter a US cellphone.
In our regular talk with crikey.com.au blogger Stilgherrian, we look at the vexed question of whether the fibre should be over our heads or under our feet.

 

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A Series of Tubes #90: The role of IMS in IP-TV, Pipes in Africa and Tasmania, Government 2.0

Back from school holidays, Tubes talks to Ericsson A/NZ’s Head of Multimedia Strategy, Kursten Leins.
One of the big selling points for the NBN is that as well as fast Internet access for all, it will deliver a host of new IP-based television services. But how do carriers deliver those services in a way that generates income? The IMS standard is one way to help create a marketable network and service, as Leins explained to last week’s SMTPE conference in Sydney.
And in this week’s talk with Crikey.com.au columnist and blogger Stilgherrian, we talk about new cables in Africa and across the Bass Strait, and the emergence of Government 2.0 in Australia.

 

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A Series of Tubes #89: Project Toto in Toto

For various reasons, but most of all because a NAS box died and took up far too much of my week, I lacked time to line up multiple Tubes interviews this week.
However, please indulge me: since Tubes regular Stigherrian is in Tanzania, and since “geek aid” is a topic that interests me, Tubes takes up the discussion of Project Toto, which Stil is conducting on behalf of Action Aid.

So, if you want to hear about hair-raising taxi rides across Zanzibar, gold mining and environmental remediation, really really cheap SMS, and how Tanzania’s network affects a geek’s Internet expectations, here is Project Toto in Toto.

One word of warning: calling Tanzania involves a game of count-the-codec: there’s Stil’s mobile, followed by a satellite link (I edited out the delays), followed by the PSTN and finally an Internode VoIP service at my end. Some quality issues may be expected.

 

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A Series of Tubes #88: entangling beams at the ANU, Stilgherrian on webbing government, forging e-mail, filtering games and Project Toto

I can just about understand the idea behind the quantum entanglement of photons. But how about entangling whole beams? Tubes talks to Dr Juri Janosek of the ANU’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics about multi-mode entangled beams, and what they mean for the future of quantum communications.

Tubes also caught a few minutes with Stilgherrian shortly before his flight to Tanzania, to talk about Government 2.0, forged e-mails, filtered games – and, of course, Project Toto. By the time you hear this, he’ll already be overseas struggling with poor electricity, slow connectivity, and aeroplanes with moving parts on the outside!

 

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A Series of Tubes #87: Alcatel-Lucent’s Geof Heydon on the NBN, Tethering Stilgherrian

Should iPhone users pay extra for using the device as a tethered modem? Optus thinks so – but Tubes and Stilgherrian don’t entirely agree. We also talk about YABS (yet another broadband statistic), Twitter and Iran, and of course project #Toto.

Tubes also talks to Altatel-Lucent’s Geof Heydon about the NBN: as we find it, it’s more than just a fast Internet connection.

 

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A Series of Tubes #86: Can Palo Alto Networks shake up the firewall market?

The firewall market is hardly new. In fact, according to Palo Alto Networks, it’s so mature it’s stagnating. Can the start-up trigger a shake-up? Tubes talks to Chris King and David Thrum of Palo Alto Networks to find out.
Sponsor Nortel talks about last week’s announcements at Interop, while crikey’s Stilgherrian looks at national e-security week and the decisions of French courts.

 

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A Series of Tubes #85: No, the Internet’s Not Full and the Sky’s Not Falling

Take a little astroturf, add a little lobbying, throw in a kilo or so of self-interest, stir it in with buckets of ignorance and what do you get? Scare stories about the imminent failure of the Internet – the ‘net’s too small, the exaflood is on its way, and we’re all going to hell in a handbasket.
To try and counter the gloom-hype, Tubes talks to Geoff Houston of APNIC. Although Houston is well known for tracking the gradual exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, in other matters he is optimistic that the technology and business models of the Internet are flexible enough to survive even the exaflood.
And we talk regulation, censorship, and Google Wave with Stilgherrian of crikey.com.au.

 

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