U.S. Falls Behind China in Broadband, Light-Touch Regulation Blamed for the Decline

Recent reports indicate that China has now surpassed the U.S. and is becoming the number one broadband country in the world. According to data analysis by market research firm Point Topic, both the U.S. and China had about 78 million broadband lines at the end of August; however China is growing twice as fast. Point Topic says that when broadband use initially surged in China, some experts predicted the country would overtake the U.S. in 2006. However the U.S. speeded up in the number of broadband lines and growth in China leveled off. For 18 months the two countries were more or less even with similar numbers of lines added in each quarter until the first quarter of this year. more

AI Already Succeeding in Most Creative Tasks and Getting Better by the Day

It is redundant to point out how much progress AI applications made during the past few years. What is escaping the attention of many people, however, is that in most creative areas, there are already fully working consumer-grade tools based on generative AI that can produce output similar to that of a human with above-average capabilities, and there are many more on the way. These tools also happen to be rather affordable, making them accessible to a large amount of people. more

ITU Targeting Broadband for Over Half of World Population by 2015

ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré, has challenged global leaders to ensure that more than half of all the world's people have access to broadband networks by 2015, and make access to high-speed networks a basic civil right. "Broadband will be a game-changer in addressing rising healthcare costs, delivering digital education, empowering marginalized communities, and mitigating climate change." more

China Says It Will Use All Means, Including Military, to Ensure Online Security

"Beijing vowed on Tuesday to use all necessary means, including military ones, to wipe out subversion and attempts to undermine its sovereignty in cyberspace," Zhuang Pinghui reporting in South China Morning Post. more

9 Things You Need to Consider When Choosing a Registrar Solutions Partner for Your New gTLD

The ICANN board has passed a resolution approving the renewal of .INFO, .ORG and .BIZ Registry agreements with the clause on cross -- ownership (aka Vertical Integration) removed. What this means is that these Registries will now be allowed to own, part or whole, of a Registrar business. This will enable them to sell their TLD directly to end customers and also establish a reseller chain thus allowing much greater control and flexibility over sales channels. more

Total Domain Registrations Pass 193 Million Worldwide, Grew by 1 Million in Q1

The first quarter of 2010 closed with a base of over 193 million domain name registrations across all of the Top-Level Domain Names (TLDs), an increase of more than 1 million domain name registrations, or 0.6 percent, from the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign. "Compared to the first quarter of 2009, domain name registrations grew by 11 million, or 6 percent. The base of Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) dropped to 76.3 million domain names, a 2.9 percent decline quarter over quarter, but a 3.2 percent increase year over year." more

Is the Internet Sustaining the Growth Trajectories Observed as the COVID-19 Pandemic Hit the World?

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the fifth month of global disruption, many companies have readily shared data, statistics and observational insights on how the pandemic has impacted the global data infrastructure. At DE-CIX, we quickly observed core Internet infrastructure demand increasing and readily reported this data in April of 2020. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella remarked to DatacenterDynamics in April of 2020 "we have seen two years' worth of digital transformation in two months." more

The 4 Major Drivers for Investment in NFV

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) have been driving the industry to develop agile solutions that abstract physical hardware from their solution platforms. With this technology, they hope to commoditize service functions to increase service agility and reduce the capital required to achieve better and more efficient service. Over the years, we have seen solutions from TMForum and CableLabs that help standardize certain aspects of the CSP plant and similar initiatives in the CPE world with Reference Design Kit (RDK)... more

The 3 Biggest Challenges Facing New gTLDs

When ICANN announced the nTLD program, thousands of applicants threw their hats in the ring. It seemed pretty straight forward; the existing TLDs were running out of short meaningful options, all that was needed was to create newer options that would be more relevant for specific sets of customers. Years later, the process is well underway; hundreds of nTLDs have hit the market, yet less than 10% of those that have gone live seem to have found success. more

The Myth of Infinite Bandwidth

Back in the late 1990s I was often asked what I thought would happen if Internet bandwidth was infinite -- what would that change about the Internet itself? Level 3's (LVLT) recent decision to slash prices on its content distribution network and rumors of new multi-terabit cables across the Pacific have me wondering if we are actually getting closer to having infinite bandwidth. But when replying to the infinite bandwidth question I was prone to posing a return question -- what does infinite bandwidth actually mean? more

What Will 2021 Have Install for the ICT Industry?

While 2021 will remain a year with lots of uncertainties, at the same time, we can say that the pandemic has not affected the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in any significant way. Yes, there has been a slowdown, for example, in the sale of smartphones. Shortages in both materials and expertise are slowing fiber deployment, and the recovery over 2021 will be slow and uncertain because of the many lockdowns and travel restrictions. more

Moving to the Cloud? Tips for a Soft Landing

Companies are no longer afraid of the cloud. Big talk about security and performance issues has dwindled to small voices as enterprises and SMBs alike adopt cloud services to empower their global impact. Big cloud benefits, however -- agility, scalability and on-demand access -- are the result of a thoughtful, well-planned move from on-site servers to off-site resources. Here are four key tips for a soft cloud landing. more

Research Group Releases International Law on Cyber Warfare Manual

The newly released handbook applies the practice of international law with respect to electronic warfare. The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare -- named for the Estonian capital where it was compiled -- was created at the behest of the NATO Co-operative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, a NATO think tank. It takes current rules on battlefield behaviour, such as the 1868 St Petersburg Declaration and the 1949 Geneva Convention, to the internet, occasionally in unexpected ways. more

17 Countries to Reach 60% Household Broadband Penetration by 2012, Says New Study

Worldwide consumer broadband connections will grow from 323 million connections in 2007 to 499 million in 2012, according to latest research by Gartner. Worldwide consumer broadband connections penetrated 18 percent of households in 2007, and by 2012, households with a broadband connection are expected to reach 25 percent. Five countries exceeded 60 percent broadband penetration into the home in 2007; and, this is expected to grow to 17 countries by 2012. The five countries with broadband penetration into the home above 60 percent are Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, South Korea and Hong Kong. more

FCC’s “Commercial Reasonableness” Standard Already a Dismal Failure

T-Mobile filed a petition today making it clear that the FCC's commercial reasonableness standard is a failure. Anyone following net neutrality knows that the FCC is proposing to authorize discrimination and pay-for-priority deals known as fast lanes. The FCC is claiming we need not worry, however, because the FCC can make sure that entrepreneurs and users face only "commercially reasonable" discrimination. more