According to Infonetics Research the global Q3 2012 IP router and switch market "roughly reflects economic conditions," dropping by -5% Y-o-Y to reach around $3.4 billion.

“EMEA posted another negative quarter amid the ongoing fiscal crisis in Europe," the analyst continues. "We may not see much of the usual Q4 budget flush, as it seems just as the European Commission gets closer to economic steadiness, more negative reports arrive.”

Cisco leads the router-only (IP edge and core routers) segment, Continue reading...

After years as a niche technology, 60GHz technology is set to become a mass market solution ABI Research reports-- with annual enabled device shipments to exceed 1 billion units by 2017.

Driving such growth is the linking of the WiGig and Wifi Alliances and the forthcoming ratification of the 802.11ad standard, both advancements encouraging wifi IC vendors to add 11ad to future tri-band solutions (as in 11n/11ac/11ad).

Many describe 802.11ad as the next step for wifi, after 11ac.

Vendor partnerships Continue reading...

Western Digital reveals additions to the My Net router family-- the My Net AC1300 HD Dual-Band Router and the companion AC Bridge, both with 802.11ac wireless technology.

The company claims the two devices are ideal for high-bandwidth entertainment services, thanks to FasTrack technology prioritising streaming performance.

The AC1300 uses 802.11n wireless on the 2.4GHz and 802.11ac on the 5GHz band. Both bands work simultaneously, with a "unique" horizontal 3x3 antenna array supposedly boosting Continue reading...

Video conferencing software-based applications (Skype, Facetime, Lync, Vidyo, etc.) may all use different video codecs (VP8, H.264AVC, H.264SVC, H.263, RTVideo, etc.)

Now work is underway in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to standardize on a video codec designed specifically for use over the Internet: a royalty-free video codec to be mandatory in browser-based real time communication.

The requirements attempt to address the needs of the most common Internet video transmission applications Continue reading...

D-Link adds to the PowerLine family with the PowerLine AV+ Mini Adapter Starter Kit (DHP-309AV)-- a system designed for customers wanting to extend home network reach.

Ideal for areas with limited (or no) wifi coverage, D-Link claims the DHP-309AV delivers internet connections with speeds of up to 200Mbps with 128-bit AES encryption.

Installation is also fairly easy-- simply connect the adapter to the home router before plugging into an electrical socket. Further network expansion is also possible Continue reading...

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) kicks off work on the next generation of HTTP-- HTTP/2.0, a necessary upgrade on a world wide web handling increasingly complex, bandwidth-hungry applications.

The announcement comes through the Twitter feed of IETF Hypertext Transfer Protocol working group chairman Mark Nottingham, who says "It's official: We're working on HTTP/2.0."

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol currently stands at HTTP/1.1. It is in need of an upgrade-- HTTP was designed for simple Continue reading...

Edinburgh University spinout Sofant Technologies claims it has the "world's smallest smart antenna"-- a 7 year development both small and smart enough to fit in smartphones and other mobile devices.

The working prototype features a steerable beam able to lock onto the strongest signal available, combining tunable RF Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (RF-MEMS) modules and Sofant software. Regular mobile device antennas, on the other hand, constantly look for signals in all directions.

The Sofant Continue reading...

The IEEE 802.3 standard (better known as plain old ethernet) gets its first full revision since 2008-- IEEE 802.3-2012 "Standard for Ethernet" as approved by the IEEE Standards Association.

First published in 1985, according to the IEEE the 802.3 standard "defines the physical (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layers of ethernet transmission across wired connections of multiple media."

The latest revision addresses 10Gbit/s Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPONs), energy efficiency, extension Continue reading...