2022.01.22 – Open Broadband News

Edge computing set for double digit growth in 2022 – but what exactly is it?

Worldwide spending on edge computing is expected to see double-digit growth this year, according to new figures from analyst IDC. It also predicted investments in the edge will reach $176 billion in 2022, an increase of 14.8 percent from last year.

“Edge computing continues to gain momentum as digital-first organisations seek to innovate outside of the data centre,” IDC research Vice President Dave McCarthy said in a statement, adding that the diverse needs of edge deployments have created a market opportunity for technology suppliers, increasingly through partnerships and alliances. A great deal has been written about edge computing over the past several years, and yet it remains an area of technology that can be hard to define, as The Register has previously pointed out.

The concept of edge computing is deceptively simple: put the processing where the data is being generated, rather than streaming it all back to a remote data center, with the latency (and network costs) that inevitably incurs.

Step beyond that, and edge computing has such a diverse array of potential use cases that they often have little else in common, and thus building up a standard model or platform for edge computing remains elusive.

Sì! Italian government sets its sights on multi-billion Euro broadband fund

Italy’s government made almost €3.7 billion available to help boost the deployment of 1Gb/s broadband services in underserved areas.

Infratel Italia, the agency in charge of managing the project, stated the aim is to cover a further 7 million households with high-speed broadband networks offering download speeds of 1Gb/s and 200Mb/s uploads. Funds will come from Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, the nation’s programme under the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, which aims to mitigate the economic and social impact of the Covid-19  pandemic.

The most recent data from the FTTH Council Europe showed Italy was expected to increase its Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) footprint to 16 million households by the end of last year, up 46 percent over 2020. By 2026, the figure is expected to reach 26 million households.

US screen lovers splash the cash as research suggests Smart TVs are now the norm

Parks Associates consumer research featured in its Over-The-Top (OTT) Video Market Tracker that revealed in Q3 2021, 27 percent of US broadband subscribers reported the Samsung Tizen Smart TV is their primary device for consuming video content. The firm’s most recent update recaps top industry and consumer trends of Q4 2021 and highlights anticipated market shifts in 2022.

Acquisitions and consolidations are becoming key options for streaming firms to compete in the face of limited material and the constant demand for more new content. The OTT Video Tracker also notes that the average churn rate for Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) increased to 45 percent in 2021, a 5.5 percent jump from 2020.

“More changes are coming for the video entertainment market in 2022,” said Eric Sorensen, Senior Contributing Analyst at Parks Associates. “The smart TV will cement its status as the default streaming platform in the households. We will see many more content partnerships and service acquisitions among providers and manufacturers. Content creators will leverage their ability to reach audiences directly, while service and content providers will adapt their business models to anticipate higher levels of churn than in previous years.”

Brazilians to get their share of fiber as roll out will connect millions

An ambitious Brazilian project that aims to bring broadband connectivity to around a million people in two northern states has now been officially launched.

The 770km Infovia 00 fiber optic cable is being installed in Amapa and Para.

The installation will be along the bed of the Amazon River to reduce the environmental impact of the project. This will also improve connectivity for local people living near the river and working fishermen. Metropolitan networks will distribute the fiber optic signal in each municipality to organizations, research institutions, hospitals, health centres and courthouses.

According to TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, this initiative is part of the Ministry of Communications-backed Norte Conectado program, itself a part of the Programa Amazonia Integrada Sustentavel (Sustainable Integrated Amazon Programme) or PAIS. The PAIS programme will involve eight connectivity projects – just short of 12,000 kilometers long, passing through seven rivers, connecting 58 cities in the north of the country and benefit approximately 10 million Brazilians.

Beyond the Cloud: Five Incoming Trends for 2022

What does the future of data networking look like in 2022? If the past two years are any indicators, we are entering a challenging year where supply chain issues, the impact of unforeseen variants, and a recovering global economy will set the stage.

This year will be about continuing to build resiliency and cloud native computing to the edge. We’re now a few years into the 5G era, and there is still a long road to travel before we can fully realize the benefits of 5G. One major prediction is the convergence of fixed and mobile for ‘Seamless Services’.

The intersections between the fixed network and 5G mobile networks will be a key component in the success of 5G deployments in 2022 and beyond. These are the interfaces between the 5G core, the wireline and wireless access networks, hybrid access nodes, and gateways.

3GPP is the 5G standardization buddy, working jointly with Broadband Forum to ensure that 5G packet core works for not only 3GPP access but also non-3GPP access such as Wi-Fi 6, fiber and so on. This means that a single 5G packet core infrastructure will be capable of sustaining all the main access technologies in the marketplace. Therefore, Wi-Fi 6 and 5G could be combined into a single radio network pillar for some larger venues, creating a more seamless experience, allowing Wi-Fi and mobile devices to connect to a single radio network based on 5G technology. The possibilities here are exciting!