It’s been more than a year since I wrote my last blog post. I was busy with other work (office, teaching, speaking, reading, traveling, advising, consulting, family…. ) and couldn’t really find a time to write something, though I had lot of things to share. However, I kept on my micro-blogging activities on twitter as usual. This post is actually ...

Note: This post was 1st appeared in BCS ISG Blog.As the world progresses with unprecedented changes happening all around us, new terms/buzzwords (or abbreviations) are frequently introduced. Two such terms are SDN (or software defined networking) and NFV (or network functions virtualization), widely used within telecom, cloud and enterprise environments. Even if you are from a different field than ...

I think the operators/governments, both developed and developing, around the globe need to go back to the fundamentals and 1st principals in deploying broadband/Next Generation Access (NGA)networks. For that matter, most governments need to go back to fundamentals/1st principles in all that they do.They need to think on the "purpose" of doing what they are doing/planning to do. If you ...

The Telcos (more correctly, Communication Service Providers (CSPs)) face a severe competition and a pressure today to keep their noses above the water. They can no more sell voice and bandwidth and make that a viable business proposition. Both voice and bandwidth has become a given. Most of the customers granted that as given. Recently the United Nations (UN) has ...

IntroductionAssume a Communication Service Provider (CSP)who does not have an aggregation network between the access and core. The CSP wants to use Carrier Ethernet (CE) technology to build the aggregation network. The CSP, most of the CSPs, intends to deliver/transport/aggregate the following services/traffic across the Carrier Ethernet Network (CEN) in an End-to-End (E2E) Internet protocol (IP) oriented architecture supporting ...

In early days when most of us were not born, operators built TDM (circuit) networks and offered data (circuit) services to customers.Because customers wanted data(packet) services, operators built IP/Ethernet (packet) networks.Now customers ask for circuit like services again.But, operators can’t build circuit networks again.Operators have no choice than allowing circuit like service flow in their packet networks.By Anuradha Udunuwara ...

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog (in November 2014). It was on MEF GEN14. I also attended Carrier Ethernet APAC in December 2014 in Singapore, but couldn't write anything on that. After all, writing a blog at 38,000 feet is always fun (at least for me) and this is the 2nd time I’m doing that. I ...

First things first, I would suggest the Communication Service Provider (CSP) should critically analyze the book value of the existing legacy system, spare capacity availability, vendor support availability, Next Generation Network (NGN)/Ethernet transport feature availability, upgrade costs and operational costs like space and power. As long as the existing system addresses the requirement cost effectively in short term and mid ...

Singapore’s Changi airport is one of the world’s best airports, not only from the services, facilities and infrastructure, but also in terms customer/client engagement. Changi is very much in synchronization with what happens elsewhere in the world. The appearance of the lounges changes very frequently to adopt to a current theme, be it Star Wars or any other latest film ...

“ARC tube” is a unique volunteer effort to deliver clear, trusted, reliable and concise explanations on topics related to digital, digital disruptions, associated technologies and digital marketing all in one place. The channel is dedicated to properly guiding and making the viewers understand these concepts and develop required knowledge and expertise.The delivery is done by a unique trio - A, ...

If you over heard the terms IoT (internet of Things), AI (Artificial intelligence), VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), AV (Autonomous Vehicles) and many others alike, during the past couple of years, especially in the beautiful city of Barcelona - if you happened to be at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017, then you’re not the only one. Celicitaciones! (On a ...

5G – the 5thGeneration mobile technology might arrive at our door steps sooner than we think, supporting 3 typical usage scenarios: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) and Ultra-reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) [1]. Though architecture wise 5G is different from its predecessors, like in any other wireless communication technology, among many other things, the Multiple Access ...

It’s been 3 weeks since I faced that accident. An accident changed my entire life. I died, almost, on 4th March 2013. The good news is I’m alive and recovering quickly. After spending 2 days in the hospital, I was discharged and asked to rest at home for 4 weeks. That’s a full month. I have never stayed (to ...

I always had this question in my mind; wired or wireless to reach the rural. All the fixed line Communication Service Providers (CSPs) in both developing and developed countries have started their networks form the urban areas (ex: Main Switching Unit (MSU) in Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)) and move to sub-urban (ex: Remote Switching Unit (RSU)) and then to ...

Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) has defined 4 types of service, namely;E-LINE (Ethernet Line) - Point to PointE-LAN (Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN)) - Multipoint to MultipointE-TREE (Ethernet Tree) - Point to MultipointE-Access (Ethernet Access) The lack of E-TREE implementations/support on Communication Service Providers (CSP) networks today make the customers buy Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) (Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) ...

When we say Optical Transport Networks (OTN), it could mean two things;OTN wrapper capability OTN switching capabilityTo implement an OTN, there are many technological options available. From least cost (in general) to highest, the options are as follows;Note: All options need to support OTN wrapperFixed Optical Add Drop Multiplexers (FOADM)Re-configurable OADM (ROADM)Tunable ROADM (TROADM) (Wave-length Selective Switching (WSS)): supports Color-Less ...

IntroductionCommunication Service Provider (CSP) networks can be divided into many categories. If divided based on the media used for the transport, wired and wireless are the widely known. Both types can be again sub divided based on the functional hierarchy; core, aggregation and access. If wired networks are concerned, optical fiber is used in almost all the core and aggregation ...

In the Communication Service Provider (CSP) industry today, there are many confusions with terms. One such example is Metro Ethernet (ME) and Carrier Ethernet (CE). Many people have asked me the difference between the two. Therefore, I just though of writing this small blog, just to clarify the doubts.ME was 1stto come. Hence the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Carrier Ethernet ...

The list of world's 1st batch of MEF-CECPs (Metro Ethernet Forum - Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional) can be found athttp://www.blogger.com/www.ethernetacademy.net/index.php/MEF-Certified-Professionals.html

These photos were taken yesterday (16.8.2009) morning at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka.The photos show how the giants having their morning meal and then going to the nearby river (Ma Oya) for a bath.The elephant in the last photo is said to be injured from a land mine before brought into the orphanage.