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We are all bandwidth hogs now

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:18:19 +0000

Demand for international bandwidth grew 39 percent last year, and at a compounded annual rate of 53 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to Telegeography. The interesting bit here is that the growth is coming not just from developed regions, but all regions of the world.

Cheaper mobile phones with access to the web are certainly a part of that demand growth in developing nations, while in more traditional technology markets, hotspots, larger applications and cloud computing are to blame. Whatever the reason for demand, carriers are responding accordingly, with new submarine cables connecting more countries than ever before.

Telegeography tracks bandwidth supply, pricing and data on submarine cables, and the latest data shows how carriers that range from traditional players like Level 3 and Tata to newer investors such as Google are connecting all areas of the world. The firm estimates all regions are getting about 10 to 12 new terabits per second of capacity in the last five years. All in all in the last five years the world has gained 54 Tbps of new capacity.

This is great, because additional cables means more redundancy, so when accidents happen or cables get cut — as happened late last month off the coast of Egypt – traffic can route around the nicks in the system. That redundancy also allows new players into the market and can result in lower bandwidth costs, which is good for businesses buying bandwidth and indirectly for consumers.

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Holy cow, the Formula 1 races have a ton of tech inside

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:58:26 +0000

I am not a sports enthusiast. I am not a car racing enthusiast. Until a few days ago, I had no more than a vague recognition of Formula 1 racing. But the F1 race that happened Austin over the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas track, gave me ample opportunity to learn about Formula 1 and the crazy tech that makes it all possible — from supercomputers to real-time data analysis.

There is a ton of computing involved in this sport, and it all serves a different purpose. On the one hand, there’s the horsepower required to compute different airspeed dynamics over the car’s form, while on the other there’s the massively parallel computing required to analyze the streams of data thrown off the cars in real time. And there’s a lot of gear that is packed up and travels from race site to race site.

The great F1 traveling IT show

Ahead of the show I talked to Mehul Kapadia, VP of strategic alliances and sponsorships from Tata Communications, about how some of the Formula 1 computing happens in the field. And one of the coolest things is that everything happens in the field — from the broadcasting of the race to TV and to apps to the creation of a DVD highlights video covering the whole season, most of the video and web output of the F1 occurs on a race site.

The place it occurs is a broadcast center that contains 160 tons of different gear, from servers to video-editing modules owned by F1. That gear is transported to each race on a jumbo jet and is designed to be set up in 24 hours and dismantled in 12 hours. The video feeds from the track to the rest of the viewing world is handled by satellite, but Kapadia is hoping that soon that will change. Tata is one of the largest IP backbone companies in the world and is hoping that after this year it can help transition the F1 world from satellite to fiber.

The trend of sending more and more HD-quality sports content via fiber networks instead of via satellite is one I’ve been hearing about for several years. Yet it’s a slow transition, in part because broadcasters and organizations that manage the sports are hesitant to mess with a formula that works. For all of the F1 races Tata provides a gigabit of connectivity to the track itself, which is more than 10 times the capacity than F1 had prior to the Tata sponsorship.

“In the middle of Austin this isn’t a big deal, but some of these sites are fairly remote,” said Kapadia.

And because the race teams are using on-site connectivity to stream data from hundreds of sensors inside the car to their teams that perform real-time calculations on-site, the extra capacity is going to get used. Those calculations help the racing teams tell their drivers when to come in for a pit stop or how to handle the course or other drivers. Somewhere in all that information, there’s almost certainly a great big data case study.

How much will F1 put in the cloud?

Tata is also hosting the Formula 1 web sites and apps in its data centers. And like most sports, the demand on the web site fluctuates incredibly — hitting peaks right before and during the race itself. It also experiences interest from all over the world, since F1 is a truly international sport. This poses geographical challenges and also means that any prime time isn’t constrained by a certain time zone. Tata hosts some of the site’s content on its on-demand InstaCompute cloud, but it also has built a content delivery network using technology it acquired through the purchase of BitGravity in 2011.

But still much of the F1 IT work is handled on site at the broadcast center, which means that F1 IT staff are on the road a lot — even if it’s to exotic locales. By putting more of its operations in the cloud and by having fat pipes connecting the racetracks, Kapadia hopes that he can take F1 online and let more take place from remote locations. Because as cool as it is to have a traveling IT infrastructure and support team, it’s also a logistical challenge — and something better connectivity and the cloud could help solve.

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Spotting M&A opportunity, martinwolf opens Bangalore office

Barb Darrow — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:16:38 +0000

As tech companies — vendors that build product — and integrators that customize and integrate that product into larger solutions — strive for scale, there’s growing opportunity for cross-border mergers. That’s why martinwolf M&A Advisors of San Ramon, Calif. is opening an office in Bangalore.

In the past few years, martinwolf handled Rolta India Ltd’s acquisition of TUSC, a large U.S.-based Oracle implementation partner and Hinduja TMT’s buyout of Affina, a U.S.-based business process optimization company. But Marty Wolf, CEO of the company, said the amount of interest in such deals is picking up, making the local presence necessary. Gaurav Sharma, a former executive with IBM Global Services, will head the new office as SVP of the India practice.

One motivating force is that a number of mid-sized Indian tech companies — the layer below the giants like Wipro, Tata, Infosys etc. — need to grow to survive, Wolf said. And, it’s time for the world to acknowledge that these companies are more than low-cost leaders. ”Their advantage goes way beyond cost,” he said. “In many cases they offer better solutions faster and cheaper than [U.S. competitors]. The beneficiaries are the end users.”

These mid-sized companies have great expertise but often lack the channel and partners to implement it in the field far from home, and are looking for partners in the U.S. and elsewhere to do that for them. So, Wolf hopes to act as a matchmaker between companies in India and the U.S. but is also working on deals with companies in Israel and elsewhere.

Going forward more these deals have a distinct cloud flavor, Wolf said.

“India, as in the U.S., large legacy software and ERP firms are transitioning to the cloud. But the transition will be slower and more gradual than by the U.S.-based firms. In India, we be will seeing specialized vertical services integration deals in cloud that are now beginning to take shape. Also, we will see reverse integration of companies in India with back-end cloud offerings seek acquisitions of large global systems integrators.”

Feature photo courtesy of Flickr user Melanie-m

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The future of cars for the next billion people

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:00:40 +0000

Tata Nano

While electric cars are the subject of much media attention, the future of cars for the next billion people to enter the middle class on the planet could be bare-bones, low-cost cars like Tata’s $2,500 Nano. During my trip to Delhi this week with the Geeks on a Plane tech travel group, I saw a couple of Tata Nanos driving around the streets.

The car has been a symbol of India’s economic rise and rapidly growing middle class, and Tata is a massive conglomerate in India that makes everything from cars to telecommunications to real estate. The car originally was called the “One-Lakh car,” (one lakh equals 100,000 rupees, or about $2,100) when it was launched in March of 2009, though the price of the so-called “People’s car” has risen in recent years.

At the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo in January, Tata plans to show off the Nano Diesel, according to media reports, and the diesel version will cost more than the gas-powered version. The 2012 Nano comes in a whole bunch of colors like Mojito Green and Papaya Orange.

Tata Nano

What the rise of the people’s car would mean

Despite the Nano’s tiny size and fuel efficiency compared to most cars on the roads, low-cost cars like these will make owning a fossil fuel-burning car much more accessible than ever before. Personal car ownership could soar in developing countries like India and China with these types of cars and that unfortunately means greenhouse gas emissions from this global fleet will rise as well.

If the diesel version of the Nano takes off, there’s the possibility it could burn biodiesel. The gas-powered version could burn ethanol with the addition of the flex fuel feature.

However, the Tata Nano itself has struggled. As of the beginning of this year, Tata had only sold 71,000 Nanos, which was only 40 percent of the projected sales target, according to Forbes. Potential customers, many of which are motorcycle and scooter owners in India, just haven’t switched over to a four-wheeler that is a couple of times more expensive than the two-wheelers they drive around town. And potential car owners who want a higher-end car see the Nano as the very base in personal vehicles. Tata has been attempting a major marketing campaign to revive the brand.

Electric cars are a more difficult sell

When we were walking around Old Delhi this week, I also spotted one of the Reva electric cars. Reva, which recently sold 55 percent of its shares to Mahindra Group last year, says it has 4,000 electric cars on the roads, and that’s after it was founded in 1994.

Reva

Compared to the bare-bones price of the Nano, the higher price of the battery-powered car is the reason there are fewer on the roads. Reva’s various versions can cost between $7,000 to $13,000 and higher. Reva has been building a new factory in Bangalore expected to be completed by the end of 2011 with a capacity to produce 30,000 units per year.

Reva

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Despite Their Numbers, Indians Very Active Online

Om Malik — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:46:44 +0000

Take away India’s mobile miracle and you soon realize how much the country lags in terms of PC penetration and broadband adoption. According to recently released data from the Indian government, the total broadband subscriber base rose to 6.8 million in July from 6.62 million in June — up a whopping 2.7 percent. (The Indian government defines broadband as Internet connectivity of speeds at or higher than 256 kbps.)

That’s pathetic, as there are five major telecommunication companies in India: Bharti, Reliance, Tata and state-owned BSNL & MTNL. There’s no reason why there aren’t more broadband users in India — in particular, those big phone companies should be aggressively subsidizing the newer, more powerful sub-$500 netbooks that come with 10-inch screens.

While it could help boost Nokia’s revenues, more importantly, it could jumpstart the Indian Internet ecosystem, which is already vibrant even despite such low broadband and PC penetration. Take a look at this presentation from Trendspotting about the state of India online to see just how engaged the region’s Internet users are. There are about 54 million active Internet users in India, according to the report, who love to search on Google, watch a lot of video on YouTube and are completely smitten with Facebook (the number of Indian users has risen 156 percent in the past 12 months alone). And when it comes to Twitter users, the country figures among the Top 10 in the world.

Trendsspotting Handbook of Online India

View more documents from Taly Weiss.

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Supercomputing Takes to the Cloud

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:00:24 +0000

The promise of cloud computing has come not only to web startups seeking cheap storage for photos or a way to handle a viral hit without owning a data center, but to big industry, thanks to Tata and folks using Amazon to offer supercomputing as a service. John West over at HPCWire pointed me to this story about Computational Research Laboratories, a Tata Sons’ subsidiary that’s offering its Eka supercomputer through the cloud to companies such as Boeing.

Earlier this month, Amazon unveiled MapReduce for its cloud, which provides a supercomputer-like ability to manage and thus crunch large data sets in Amazon Web Services. Other researchers are offering their data and software for supercomputing jobs via Amazon’s EC2 as well. So while folks may consider cloud computing good for startups and side projects in the enterprise, scientists and R&D groups are taking the cloud for a spin. Given that trends in supercomputing hit the mainstream IT industry sooner or later, efforts made here will be playing out in the corporate world sooner than we think.

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Metered Bandwidth Trend Spreads To India

Om Malik — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:42:34 +0000

[qi:004] The metered bandwidth malaise that is spreading across the U.S. — Internet service providers such as Cox, Comcast, Charter, Time Warner and AT&T are all dabbling at restricting your monthly bandwidth — is taking root in other parts of the world. In India, two major broadband suppliers – Airtel (click to download a pdf of their terms and conditions) and Tata Indicom — have started imposing restrictions on their already meager broadband offerings. We think metered broadband is a regressive move.

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Apple’s Marketing and Sales Teams May Need an Update

Tom Reestman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:40:14 +0000

In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, I like the new iPod shuffle. So much so that I ordered one (in black) the day they were announced.

I bought it online since shipping and engraving are free. I lose the instant gratification of the Apple Store, but I gain the personalization of engraving. (Though I admit it was challenging to come up with an engraving because there’s a small limit on letters.) Shortly after ordering, I got a confirmation email saying it would ship in three to five business days. So far, so good, now all I can do is wait. But look what I received today: I think somebody goofed. I mean, it’s nice that Apple thought of me and all that, but I have a couple of issues with this email:

“We hope you’re enjoying your iPod.” Well, no, I’m not. Because I don’t have it yet. In fact, unless you’re hiding something from me, you haven’t even shipped it yet.
The picture is of an antiquated shuffle, not the shiny new one I ordered. I mean, the thing has the controls on it instead of using remote headphone controls. Remember back when we used to control these things that way? That was ages ago. You know, before the Enlightenment.
The email makes no mention of the new shuffle at all.

Apple, you should get a note to the appropriate groups to have your canned email updated ASAP. And maybe not send it until you think the recipient actually has the item in question, OK? Oh, and maybe include a reference to the actual item that was purchased? Thanks anyway… I guess… Man, if they ship me that green one I’m gonna so go ballistic.

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Daily Sprout

Josie Garthwaite — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:00:19 +0000

Say Good-bye to Your Big Plasma: EU officials may outlaw the largest plasma TV models under new energy performance requirements. — NYT’s Green Inc.

Going Negative: Global carbon emissions will have to drop to near zero by 2050 and “go negative” after that to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. — Reuters

An Offer Tesla Couldn’t Refuse: Detroit Auto Show organizers gave Tesla Motors a “shockingly” good deal to exhibit at the event after big automakers dropped out. Rival Fisker Automotive signed up early and paid full price. — LAT’s Up to Speed

Chrysler Down, Not Out: In a hastily organized conference call today, Chrysler denied reports that the company is looking to sell some of its brands, plants or other assets. — Wall Street Journal

Tata Power Seeking Renewables: India’s largest private utility plans to add geothermal or solar energy to its 2,300 MW portfolio. — Cleantech Group

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Nano 1.0 Still MIA, But Tata's in Talks for a Micro-Hybrid

Josie Garthwaite — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:30:43 +0000

Tata Motors wants to build a micro-hybrid version of the Tata Nano, the $2,500 “people’s car” unveiled last year and slated (for now) to enter production in 2009. While the Indian auto giant has encountered a series of delays for the Nano — most of them tied to disputes over land slated for factory construction — it has entered talks with German auto parts manufacturer Bosch to supply micro-hybrid, or start-stop, systems, India’s CNBC-TV18 reports.

Micro-hybrids are not true hybrid fuel systems, but Bosch says its technology can boost in-town fuel economy by up to 8 percent: Gasoline alone propels the vehicle, but the engine shuts down when it’s at rest. Electricity from the battery instantly restarts the engine when the driver hits the accelerator.

Two years ago, Bosch forecast that start-stop technology would appear in 1 out of every 5 cars by 2015. So far, BMW, Mini, Fiat, and Kia have come on board. While the system represents a relatively inexpensive add-on, it would add up to 6,000 rupee, or about $125 to the the price tag for the Nano — not insignificant for a car whose chief selling point is affordability. If Tata can ramp to the 100,000 annual production it originally envisioned for the Nano, the deal could be a good score for Bosch. Like Tata, the company has idled factories in recent months in response to slumping global demand.

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