Planet Solutions Podcasts

Intro: The Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG, is a working group of ISO/IEC charged with the development of video and audio encoding standards. In this podcast we look at the MPEG standards and video delivery systems. Mike: Gordon, what sources are we referring to here?Wikipedia and white paper from the MPEG Industry Forum at www.m4if.org/public/documents/vault/m4-out-20027.pdf. we've also got a couple of diagrams from the Verizon website. Mike: What's the history of MPEG? Mike: Are these open standards? Mike: What's the history? Can you tell us about MPEG-1? Mike: How about MPEG-2? Mike: We don't hear much about MPEG-3 - what's up with that? Mike: Let's talk about MPEG-4 now. Mike: What are some of the advantages of MPEG-4? Mike: Let's switch gears and talk about carried video delivery systems - specifically the telcos and cable companies. How is this technology used?It's different for broadcast and video on demand (VOD) content. Let's discuss broadcast systems and look at how Verizon (as an example) is setup. Two National Super Head Ends (SHE) - one in Tampa and the other in Bloomington, IL: - Diversely located - Satellites collect video feeds - Video is converted to digital MPEG-2 and packaged in a 10-GigE payload - SHE servers pitch data to the Video Hub Office (VHO) - Three OC-192 SONET (long haul) rings that drop and continue GigE to VHOs Mike: What is OC-192? Mike: OK, these video hub offices are distributed over Verizon's footprint - what happens when they get the video? Video Hub Office (VHO) ex. Burlington MA Combines: - National Channels - VOD Servers catch data from the SHE servers - Off-Air, program guide, public, education, and government (PEG) channels, and local ads are injected - Encrypts all content - Content sent over several 1-GigE links to local Video Serving Offices (VSO, ex. CO) over SONET (medium haul) - VSO then sends it to the OLT and then to the PON network for delivery to customer. Mike: Broadcast is still done using traditional RF modulation methods - correct? Yes - that will change - rumor has it Verizon will be trialing IP Broadcasting this summer in Pennsylvania - just a rumor! Mike: Now - Video on Demand (VOD) does things a little differently - correct? Yes - VOD delivers IP content to the customer - it is not in RF format: - Content is requested by user via the IP network (private subnet) - Content is then streamed from the video pumps to the Video Distribution Routers (VDR) in the VHO (ex. Burlington) - VDR then sends 10-GigE links to a Video Aggregation Router (VAR) - The Video Aggregation Router (VAR) then sends it to the Gateway Router (GWR) in the VSO (ex. CO) - GWR then sends it to the OLT and then to the PON network Mike: So - Verizon is combining Voice, Video and Data services on the same fiber? Yes - Here's another nice diagram from the Verizon website:

Intro: In this podcast we take a look at modern fiber delivery systems. Podcast Questions: Mike: Passive Optical Networks use Fiber could you talk a little but about Fiber to the Premise or Home (FTTP or H) Mike: So what exactly is a Fiber P2P Network? Mike: OK, so whats a PON? Mike: What are the PON Architectural Choices? Mike: What is Centralized Splitting? Mike: What is Distributed/Cascaded Splitting? Mike: What are some of the Protocols and Standards used with PONs? Mike: What are the Outside Plant Components? Mike: Whats an ONT? Mike: Are Technicians typically terminating fiber in the field? Reference List: FiOS: Our FutureJames Armstrong, Chris Cote, Stan McCoy, James ToddSTCC Verizon NextStep Class of 2008 Passive Optical Network SplitterLawrence Graham, Mike Thompson, Jodi Lewandowski, Jeremy Dillensneider, Stephen BooherSTCC Verizon NextStep Class of 2006 FTTH Explained: Delivering efficient customer bandwidth and enhanced serviceshttp://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/fiber_home/Michael Kunigonis, Product Line Manager: Access Corning Cable Systems

Intro: Amazon launched the Kindle in the United States in November 2007. Demand for the Kindle has been high with long waiting lists. We finally got our hands on one and review the Kindle in this podcast.Show Questions: Can you give us some basic specs on the Kindle? What about external storage, battery life and ports or connectors? Can you give us a quick overview on the Kindle controls - How do you use it? How do you navigate? Does the ruler do anything else? What's Whispernet? How do you get content on the Kindle? Can you get content from other sources? What file formats does the kindle support? Are there other ways to read pdf's? Can you view pictures? What else can you do? I'm always reading things and making notes to include in blogs or other documents - is there a way to do this? Is content on the kindle searchable? How does the dictionary work? What are some of the experimental extras - does it allow web browsing?? I've heard about a question ask and answer feature - can you describe that? Can you play music on it? Any other observations?

Intro: Two weeks ago we gave an overview of IPv6. This week we take a look at some of the technical details for this protocol. Mike: Gordon, a couple of weeks ago we discussed Ipv6 - can you give us a quick review - what's the difference between IPv4 and IPv6? The most obvious distinguishing feature of IPv6 is its use of much larger addresses. The size of an address in IPv6 is 128 bits, which is four times the larger than an IPv4 address. A 32-bit address space allows for 232 or 4,294,967,296 possible addresses. A 128-bit address space allows for 2 28 or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 (or 3.4x1038) possible addresses. In the late 1970s when the IPv4 address space was designed, it was unimaginable that it could be exhausted. However, due to changes in technology and an allocation practice that did not anticipate the recent explosion of hosts on the Internet, the IPv4 address space was consumed to the point that by 1992 it was clear a replacement would be necessary. With IPv6, it is even harder to conceive that the IPv6 address space will be consumed. Mike: It's not just to have more addresses though, is it? It is important to remember that the decision to make the IPv6 address 128 bits in length was not so that every square inch of the Earth could have 4.3x1020 addresses. Rather, the relatively large size of the IPv6 address is designed to be subdivided into hierarchical routing domains that reflect the topology of the modern-day Internet. The use of 128 bits allows for multiple levels of hierarchy and flexibility in designing hierarchical addressing and routing that is currently lacking on the IPv4-based Internet. Mike: Is there a specific RFC for IPv6? The IPv6 addressing architecture is described in RFC 2373. Mike: I know there is some basic terminology associated with IPv6. Can you describe Nodes and Interfaces as they apply to IPv6? A node is any device that implements IPv6. It can be a router, which is a device that forwards packets that aren't directed specifically to it, or a host, which is a node that doesn't forward packets. An interface is the connection to a transmission medium through which IPv6 packets are sent. Mike: How about some more IPv6 terminology - can you discuss Links, Neighbors, Link MTUs, and Link Layer Addresses? A link is the medium over which IPv6 is carried. Neighbors are nodes that are connected to the same link. A link maximum transmission unit (MTU) is the maximum packet size that can be carried over a given link medium, and is expressed in octets. A Link Layer address is the "physical" address of an interface, such as media access control (MAC) addresses for Ethernet links. Mike: Can you give a brief ouline in address syntax? IPv4 addresses are represented in dotted-decimal format. This 32-bit address is divided along 8-bit boundaries. Each set of 8 bits is converted to its decimal equivalent and separated by periods. For IPv6, the 128-bit address is divided along 16-bit boundaries, and each 16-bit block is converted to a 4-digit hexadecimal number and separated by colons. The resulting representation is called colon-hexadecimal. The following is an IPv6 address in binary form: 00100001110110100000000011010011000000000000000000101111001110110000001010101010000000001111111111111110001010001001110001011010 The 128-bit address is divided along 16-bit boundaries: 0010000111011010 0000000011010011 0000000000000000 0010111100111011 0000001010101010 0000000011111111 1111111000101000 1001110001011010 Each 16-bit block is converted to hexadecimal and delimited with colons. The result is: 21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A IPv6 representation can be further simplified by removing the leading zeros within each 16-bit block. However, each block must have at least a single digit. With leading zero suppression, the address representation becomes: 21DA:D3:0:2F3B:2AA:FF:FE28:9C5A Mike: I know there are lost of zeros in IPv6 addresses - can you discribe zero compression notation? Some types of addresses contain long sequences of zeros. To further simplify the representation of IPv6 addresses, a contiguous sequence of 16-bit blocks set to 0 in the colon hexadecimal format can be compressed to ::?, known as double-colon. For example, the link-local address of FE80:0:0:0:2AA:FF:FE9A:4CA2 can be compressed to FE80::2AA:FF:FE9A:4CA2. The multicast address FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:2 can be compressed to FF02::2. Zero compression can only be used to compress a single contiguous series of 16-bit blocks expressed in colon hexadecimal notation. You cannot use zero compression to include part of a 16-bit block. For example, you cannot express FF02:30:0:0:0:0:0:5 as FF02:3::5. The correct representation is FF02:30::5. To determine how many 0 bits are represented by the ::?, you can count the number of blocks in the compressed address, subtract this number from 8, and then multiply the result by 16. For example, in the address FF02::2, there are two blocks (the FF02? block and the 2? block.) The number of bits expressed by the ::? is 96 (96 = (8 2)(16). Zero compression can only be used once in a given address. Otherwise, you could not determine the number of 0 bits represented by each instance of ::?. Mike: IPv4 addresses use subnet masks - do IPv6 addresses? No - a subnet mask is not used for IPv6. Something called prefix length notation is supported. The prefix is the part of the address that indicates the bits that have fixed values or are the bits of the network identifier. Prefixes for IPv6 subnet identifiers, routes, and address ranges are expressed in the same way as Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation for IPv4. An IPv6 prefix is written in address/prefix-length notation. For example, 21DA:D3::/48 is a route prefix and 21DA:D3:0:2F3B::/64 is a subnet prefix. Mike: I know there are three basic types of IPv6 addresses - can you give a brief description of each? 1. Unicast packet sent to a particular interface A unicast address identifies a single interface within the scope of the type of unicast address. With the appropriate unicast routing topology, packets addressed to a unicast address are delivered to a single interface. To accommodate load-balancing systems, RFC 2373 allows for multiple interfaces to use the same address as long as they appear as a single interface to the IPv6 implementation on the host. 2. Multicast - packet sent to a set of interfaces, typically encompassing multiple nodes A multicast address identifies multiple interfaces. With the appropriate multicast routing topology, packets addressed to a multicast address are delivered to all interfaces that are identified by the address. 3. Anycast while identifying multiple interfaces (and typically multiple nodes) is sent only to the interface that is determined to be nearest? to the sender. An anycast address identifies multiple interfaces. With the appropriate routing topology, packets addressed to an anycast address are delivered to a single interface, the nearest interface that is identified by the address. The nearest? interface is defined as being closest in terms of routing distance. A multicast address is used for one-to-many communication, with delivery to multiple interfaces. An anycast address is used for one-to-one-of-many communication, with delivery to a single interface. In all cases, IPv6 addresses identify interfaces, not nodes. A node is identified by any unicast address assigned to one of its interfaces. Mike: What about broadcasting? RFC 2373 does not define a broadcast address. All types of IPv4 broadcast addressing are performed in IPv6 using multicast addresses. For example, the subnet and limited broadcast addresses from IPv4 are replaced with the link-local scope all-nodes multicast address of FF02::1. Mike: What about special addresses? The following are special IPv6 addresses: Unspecified Address The unspecified address (0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 or ::) is only used to indicate the absence of an address. It is equivalent to the IPv4 unspecified address of 0.0.0.0. The unspecified address is typically used as a source address for packets attempting to verify the uniqueness of a tentative address. The unspecified address is never assigned to an interface or used as a destination address. Loopback Address The loopback address (0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 or ::1) is used to identify a loopback interface, enabling a node to send packets to itself. It is equivalent to the IPv4 loopback address of 127.0.0.1. Packets addressed to the loopback address must never be sent on a link or forwarded by an IPv6 router. Mike: How is DNS handled? Enhancements to the Domain Name System (DNS) for IPv6 are described in RFC 1886 and consist of the following new elements: Host address (AAAA) resource record IP6.ARPA domain for reverse queries Note: According to RFC 3152, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) consensus has been reached that the IP6.ARPA domain be used, instead of IP6.INT as defined in RFC 1886. The IP6.ARPA domain is the domain used by IPv6 for Windows Server 2003. The Host Address (AAAA) Resource Record: A new DNS resource record type, AAAA (called quad A?), is used for resolving a fully qualified domain name to an IPv6 address. It is comparable to the host address (A) resource record used with IPv4. The resource record type is named AAAA (Type value of 28) because 128-bit IPv6 addresses are four times as large as 32-bit IPv4 addresses. The following is an example of a AAAA resource record: host1.microsoft.com IN AAAA FEC0::2AA:FF:FE3F:2A1C A host must specify either a AAAA query or a general query for a specific host name in order to receive IPv6 address resolution data in the DNS query answer sections. The IP6.ARPA Domain The IP6.ARPA domain has been created for IPv6 reverse queries. Also called pointer queries, reverse queries determine a host name based on the IP address. To create the namespace for reverse queries, each hexadecimal digit in the fully expressed 32-digit IPv6 address becomes a separate level in inverse order in the reverse domain hierarchy. For example, the reverse lookup domain name for the address FEC0::2AA:FF:FE3F:2A1C (fully expressed as FEC0:0000:0000:0000:02AA: 00FF:FE3F:2A1C) is: C.1.A.2.F.3.E.F.F.F.0.0.A.A.2.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.C.E.F.IP6.ARPA. The DNS support described in RFC 1886 represents a simple way to both map host names to IPv6 addresses and provide reverse name resolution. Mike: Can you discuss transition from IPv4 to IPv6? Mechanisms for transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6 are defined in RFC 1933. The primary goal in the transition process is a successful coexistence of the two protocol versions until such time as IPv4 can be retired if, indeed, it's ever completely decommissioned. Transition plans fall into two primary categories: dual-stack implementation, and IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling. More Info Mechanisms for transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6 are defined in RFC 1933. There are two primary methods. Dual Stack Implementation The simplest method for providing IPv6 functionality allows the two IP versions to be implemented as a dual stack on each node. Nodes using the dual stack can communicate via either stack. While dual-stack nodes can use IPv6 and IPv4 addresses that are related to each other, this isn't a requirement of the implementation, so the two addresses can be totally disparate. These nodes also can perform tunneling of IPv6 over IPv4. Because each stack is fully functional, the nodes can configure their IPv6 addresses via stateless autoconfiguration or DHCP for IPv6, while configuring their IPv4 addresses via any of the current configuration methods. IPv6 Over IPv4 Tunneling The second method for implementing IPv6 in an IPv4 environment is by tunneling IPv6 packets within IPv4 packets. These nodes can map an IPv4 address into an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address, preceding the IPv4 address with a 96-bit "0:0:0:0:0:0" prefix. Routers on a network don't need to immediately be IPv6-enabled if this approach is used, but Domain Name System (DNS) servers on a mixed-version network must be capable of supporting both versions of the protocol. To help achieve this goal, a new record type, "AAAA," has been defined for IPv6 addresses. Because Windows 2000 DNS servers implement this record type as well as the IPv4 "A" record, IPv6 can be easily implemented in a Windows 2000 environment. Mike: we've only touched on some of the IPv6 details - where can people get more information? I'm hoping to run a session at our summer conference July 28 - 31 in Austin, TX - we've currently got faculty fellowships available to cover the cost of the conference. See www.nctt.org for details. References - Content for this academic podcast from Microsoft sources: All Linked Documents at Microsoft Internet Protocol Version 6 (note: excellent and free online resources): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb530961.aspx Understanding IPv6, Joseph Davies, Microsoft Press, 2002 ISBN: 0-7356-1245-5 Sample Chapter at: http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/4883.asp#SampleChapter

Intro: On March 18, FCC Auction 73 bidding round 261 ended and, after 38 days and $19.592 billion in bids (almost double the $10 billion the FCC had hoped for), the FCC closed out the auction. In this podcast we review and discuss the auction results.Mike: Gordon, can you give us an overview of the auction results?Sure Mike - this comes from the FCC auction website linked up in the shownotes. Rounds: 261 (started on 1/24 and ended on 3/18) Bidding Days: 38 Qualified Bidders: 214 Winning Bidders: 101 Bidders won 1090 Licenses *Auction 73 concluded with 1090 provisionally winning bids covering 1091 licenses and totaling $19,592,420,000, as shown in the Integrated Spectrum Auction System. The provisionally winning bids for the A, B, C, and E Block licenses exceeded the aggregate reserve prices for those blocks. The provisionally winning bid for the D Block license, however, did not meet the applicable reserve price and thus did not become a winning bid. Accordingly, Auction 73 raised a total of $19,120,378,000 in winning bids and $18,957,582,150 in net winning bids (reflecting bidders' claimed bidding credit eligibility), as shown above. Mike: Before we get into the auction results, can you give us an overview of the different spectrum blocks? I know we've done this before but - how about a quick refresher?Sure Mike - this comes from a blog I wrote back on January 14.Back in 2005 Congress passed a law that requires all U.S. TV stations to convert to all digital broadcasts and give up analog spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band. This law will free up 62 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and effectively eliminate channels between 52 and 69. This conversion, which has a deadline of February 18, 2009, has freed up spectrum that is being split up by the FCC into five blocks: A-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areasB-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 734 cellular market areasC-Block - 22 MHz, up into 12 regional licensesD-Block - 10MHz, combined with approximately 10MHz allocated for public safety, a single national license.E-Block - 6 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas So in summary, each spectrum block in the 700 MHz auction, except for the national public safely D-Block, has been assigned an area designation by the FCC. All FCC areas, along with names, county lists, maps and map info data can be found on the Commission's website linked here.Mike: How about a quick review of the D-Block again?Sure Mike, this also comes from that January 14 blog:The D-Block lately has been most interesting to watch. Early on it appeared Frontline Wireless would be one of the biggest bidders for D-Block spectrum - the company was setup for D-Block and had worked closely with the FCC on putting together specifications for the spectrum. Frontline built a formidable team including Vice Chairman Reed Hundt, who served as Chairman of the FCC between 1993 and 1997. The business plan, the organization, the technology seemed to all be in place........ On January 12 the company placed the following statement on their website: Frontline Wireless is closed for business at this time. We have no further comment. Another company, Cyren Call also looked like they were planning to bid on the D-Block Auction but did not. What happen? Rumor has it Frontline could not attract enough funders - it seemed like a good investment - or at least you may think so up front. Many are now asking if the FCC's approach to solving the public safety inter-operability problem is in trouble. Mike: OK, how about the results?Here's a summary from the Wall Street Journal:Verizon and AT&T accounted for 80% of the nearly $20 billion AT&T agreed to pay $6.6 billion for 227 spectrum licenses in markets covering much of the country. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, won 109 licenses for $9.4 billion. Dish Network Corp., which bid for spectrum through Frontier Wireless LLC, did acquire a significant footprint, winning 168 licenses throughout the country for $712 million. Satellite-TV providers are looking for a way into the high-speed Internet business to better compete with cable and phone companies. But Credit Suisse analyst Chris Larsen said in a research note that the particular segment of spectrum Dish acquired would make it difficult for the company to offer interactive wireless broadband service. He said the company could use the spectrum to broadcast data or for on-demand video. Google had indicated interest in a nationwide package of licenses before the auction, but it bid just high enough to trigger rules that will force winners of one segment of spectrum, known as the C-block, to allow any mobile devices and applications on their networks. Verizon won the lion's share of spectrum in this segment. Google had pushed for the regulation since its efforts to sell some mobile services had been stymied by major carriers, which traditionally have strictly limited the kinds of devices that consumers could use on their networks. Even before the auction had wrapped up, Google scored a victory as Verizon voluntarily agreed to open its network to devices it doesn't sell through its own retail network. Verizon released details of its new policy on Wednesday. Mike: Were there any licenses that dod not get any bids?There were 1,099 licenses auctioned and only eight did not receive any bids: A-Block: Lubbock, TexasWheeling, W.Va. B-Block: Bismarck, N.D.Fargo, N.D.Grand Forks, N.D. Lee, Va. Yancey, N.C. Clarendon, S.C.Mike: So, what will happen to these?These licenses will need to be re-auctioned by the FCC. I'm guessing they were over priced, the FCC will end up dropping the re-auction minimum bid and they will end up going quickly.Mike: What's going to happen with D-Block? The Public Safety D-Block did not meet the minimum bid and the FCC will have to decide what to do. It looks like the FCC could go one of two directions for the re-auction - drop the price or change the requirements. From the start, the public safety D-Block auction was seen as one of the biggest auction challenges...... I've expressed my opinion on the D-Block in the past........ the FCC still has some major work ahead before they can close this one out. This comes from InfoWorld: On Thursday, the FCC voted to de-link the so-called D block from the rest of the auction results. The D block was a 10MHz block that was to be paired with another 10MHz controlled by public safety agencies, and the winning bidder would have been required to build a nationwide voice and data network to serve both public safety and commercial needs. But the FCC failed to receive its $1.33 billion minimum bid for the D block, with the lone $472 million bid coming from Qualcomm. The FCC has no plans to immediately reauction the D block, a spokeswoman said. Instead, the agency "will consider its options for how to license this spectrum in the future," the FCC said in a news release. Mike: So, it looks like the big carriers won?For the most part, yes. Kevin Martin had an interesting quote in an EFluxMedia piece though:"A bidder other than a nationwide incumbent won a license in every market," FCC chairman Kevin Martin said hinting that its possible for a "wireless third-pipe" competitor to emerge in every market across the U.S. This would increase the competition and the first one to benefit from it will be the consumer.Things still could get interesting!