Onsight Data

Internet service 133 times faster than standard high-speed will be tested in Edmonton this summer, an official with Shaw Communications said Thursday.

The Calgary-based company is launching a trial of gigabit Internet technology in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. A community in Vancouver will get the first look at ultrahigh-speed downloads in April.

It will be tested in an area of Edmonton during August.

"The stuff that we're all getting used to on our wireless devices, like watching the Olympics wherever you are, are in high definition. If you're going to deliver that over the Internet, that's incredibly intensive," said Jay Mehr, Shaw's group vice-president of operations.

"So this really just sets up for what's possible and what the customer wants in the next few years."

The technology is 10 times faster than Shaw's Nitro service, which runs at 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and more than 133 times faster than the 7.5 Mbps offered in the company's standard high-speed package.

"It's more a technology trial than a product trial because we still have to figure out the product and pricing definitions that we're going to deliver," Mehr said.

"But it makes possible the whole range of Internet-based applications for residents, and the same network will make a lot of things possible for businesses. In the short term, there may be even greater opportunities on the business side of the market."

The service will be delivered over fibre-to-the-home (FTTH).

"Depending on where you live in Edmonton, you probably have a fibre node that's a block or two from your home."

Shaw claims it is the first provider in Canada to launch a trial of gigabit Internet.

"It's technology that we haven't used before, and we certainly don't want to employ it before we understand it. And there's a significant network build to set it up," Mehr said.

It's still unclear when ultra-high-speed downloads will be widely available for subscribers.

"We could certainly see it available in the consumer market at some point in the next calendar year. In order to get to every customer in Edmonton, that will take a number of years, because as you can imagine in some areas the current coaxial cable is underground so you're digging up streets in order to get fibre to homes."

Mehr said the pace of the network build will depend on the economics of the model and what competitors do.

"I'm not sure whether I'd be in a hurry to sign up for it myself, but conceivably down the road," said Brian Nelson, associate chair of computer engineering technology at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Shaw is likely preparing for the future rather than responding to current consumer demand, he agreed. "Over the years, the amount of memory in computers and the size of hard drives and users' expectations just keep going higher and higher.

"As more and more things go onto the Net, including your voice over IP, your television, it may be that every house has a fat pipe like that coming into it for a variety of applications."

by Mariella Moon

Yes, it's that time of the year again - the time to switch the lights off for one full hour; that is if you're planning to participate in the 2009 Earth Hour event. Earth Hour started off back in 2007 in Sydney to send out people's stance about climate change. Organizers claim as much as 10.2 percent decrease in energy consumption that first year with 2.2 million households in the Australian city taking part in the event.

"Earth Hour is an opportunity for the global community to speak in one voice on the issue of climate change, while at the same time coming together in celebration of the one thing every single person on the planet has in common - the planet," says Andy Ridley, Earth Hour Executive Director.

This year, Earth Hour will be held on March 28, starting at 8:30 in the evening during your timezone until 9:30PM. According to the Earth Hour web site, there are already more than 1,000 towns and cities that signed up to participate, exceeding the organizers' expectations. If you want to join in, you can check out the Google Map posted at the web site to see if your area has an Earth Hour event, or you can organize your own.

Originally posted to GoodCleanTech.com.

Note: Onsight Data will not be turing off our servers during 'Earth Hour'  ;)

The goal is to simplify VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to the point where almost anyone can use it. Once subscribed, the only setup needed is plugging the adapter into a USB port and any analog phone into the adapter: the device automatically installs and configures itself within a minute and is ready to use from then onwards. A $19.95 subscription per year is all you pay. Note: Your first year of service is included in the purchase of a magicJack! 

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BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. are set to announce an upgrade to a next-generation wireless network next week that will allow the companies to provide the same popular mobile devices, such as the iPhone 3G, that industry leader Rogers Communications Inc. offers, sources have told the Financial Post.

Multiple sources in the telecom industry said Bell Canada and Telus are expected to share the costs of upgrading from their current code division multiple access (CDMA) networks to the globally adopted high speed packet access (HSPA) network. It is estimated to cost the two companies as much as $1-billion and take about one year to install.

The announcement will put pressure on Rogers and not just because its two entrenched competitors will be able to offer a similar high-speed network. As well, new wireless companies may now choose to negotiate with Bell or Telus for roaming agreements, giving the two incumbent telcos a revenue boost.

The new network will allow the companies to support such popular mobile devices as Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry Bold, which are already offered by Rogers but so far unavailable to Bell and Telus customers due to incompatible networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks, one of the largest telecommunication-equipment makers in the world, is said to be the vendor that will provide Bell Canada and Telus with the HSPA network upgrade.

Sources said Bell and Telus won't offer so-called "2G" GSM devices to avoid their customers paying roaming charges that would eventually go to Rogers, the only wireless provider in Canada with a GSM network.

Genuity Capital Markets equity analyst Dvai Ghose said avoiding a GSM network build-out will help the companies save capital expenditure costs while being able to tap into the "plethora" of new HSPA devices that will become available to cellphone users in the next year.

"It may not be an immediate reason to do it for the cost savings, but there's a more immediate reason to do it for the iconic devices," Mr. Ghose said.

Representatives from Bell Canada and Telus declined to comment on the possibility of a unified network upgrade.

The timing of the network announcement may be no accident.

This Wednesday will be the due date that wireless companies will have to pay Industry Canada following the conclusion of the federal government's spectrum auction this past July.

After more than one month of bidding by 15 companies, several new potential cellphone companies emerged such as Quebecor Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises (DAVE) Wireless Inc. and Globalive Communications Corp. which appears positioned to become Canada's next national wireless carrier.

According to Industry Canada, to encourage competition in the $14-billion industry any new entrant will be allowed to roam on an incumbent operator's network while building out its own infrastructure for five years.

Although the new entrants have not released details of their cellphone businesses, analysts say DAVE Wireless and Globalive have stated their wish to pursue a low-cost voice-centric model to appeal to the roughly one-third of Canadians who do not have cellphones.

"If you want to want any of the new entrants roaming revenue, you pretty much have to be on HSPA," Mr. Ghose said. "This is important in the near to medium term [for Bell and Telus] to offset the loss of market share they will have."

However, telecom consultant Iain Grant of the Seaboard Group disagreed. He said that wireless companies focussing on voice packages, not data, will not necessarily need an HSPA network to roam on.

Financial Post

dgeorgecosh@nationalpost.com

Onsight Data is pleased to announce that our data center has signed deals with both Verio and Level3 to get a 10G link from each of them in Seattle.

This requires building out fiber paths so the ETA is late October or November time frame. This will bring xeon.onsightdata.com's network uplink capacity to 50Gs.

Seattle, WA (sea01) - 30Gs now going to 50Gs
Internap - 2x 10G
Qwest - 1x 10G
Verio - 1x 10G (coming Q4 2008)
Level3 - 1x 10G (coming Q4 2008)

Primus Telecommunications Canada is opening its newest Internet Data Centre (IDC) in Edmonton, Alberta.

The new facility addresses the demand from local small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for better IT support by housing and managing mission critical computer server hardware and software assets in the province.

To demonstrate further its commitment to the Alberta market, Primus has added 12 sales employees and five network staff in Edmonton, and seven sales employees in Calgary.

"Our SMB customers have told us that in order to stay competitive, they need to avoid a crisis of complexity - too many IT options and not enough clarity," said AJ Byers, Senior Vice President, Primus Business Services. "With Alberta's economy growing so quickly SMBs need complete solutions that allow them to focus on their core business."

Primus Canada's new, larger sales force will allow the Company to service the majority of the province, allowing SMBs in both urban and suburban settings to take advantage of Primus Business Services' offerings and realize business efficiencies.