The Enterprise Micro-Datacenter: Small Cell Controllers, IoT Gateways and Edge Computing Servers

Today, enterprises can deploy small cell networks (e.g. Wi-Fi or sophisticated 4G cellular networks based on LTE technology) to go completely wireless, not only for their staff with the latest smartphones and tablets, but also to connect any of their assets, sensors, goods etc. to the Cloud. In addition, enterprises which go after the Internet of Things use IoT gateways as part of a tiered system architecture. Finally, the same enterprises may discover the benefits of edge cloud computing and consider the deployment of a cloudlet. The only issue: all needs to be enterprise-grade. Secure, reliable, with guaranteed quality of service levels. How does this relate to an enterprise micro-datacenter? And what does this small datacenter actually host? Let’s see. Continue reading

Edge Cloud to Cloud Integration for IoT

Telecoms and Internet industries work on concepts and architectures that will support new enterprise products and solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), in addition to new products and services for the consumer sector. These concepts are known as mobile edge computing, edge cloud computing and fog computing. They are great. But what needs more attention is integration of edge cloud platforms with data centers and private clouds of IoT enterprises, as well as the integration with public hyper-scale clouds.   Continue reading

Open Fog Computing and Mobile Edge Cloud Gain Momentum

On 19th November 2015, Cisco, ARM, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Princeton University have launched the Open Fog consortium with the goal to realise the full potential of the Internet of Things. On the other hand, the telecoms industry has been working since late 2014 on mobile edge computing. Also, edge cloud is seen by several vendors of telecoms infrastructure as a key component of 5th generation wireless systems. To add to the confusion, other renowned institutes like Carnegie Mellon University have promoted Cloudlets as a means to enable a new generation of edge cloud computing applications. What’s going on? How are things related?  Continue reading

WebRTC and RTCWEB – The World Soon Upside Down

WebRTC, standing for Web Real-time Communication, will gain some well-deserved attention in the months to come for a number of reasons: It may turn out to be disruptive, to drive some fights in the industry, to fuel innovation and to delight software developers and consumers alike. Less well known is RTCWEB, its sort of companion, the engine that works in the background for real-time peer-to-peer communication between browsers. Continue reading

Secret Sauce? Marketing Telco Network APIs To Developers

Telecoms network API exposure to software developers looks like a straightforward game in some cases and like an eternal struggle in others. The market opportunity is sized to be in the billions of dollars. Network operators are torn between going it alone, inspired by vertical ecosystems some Internet players were able to create and thereby following the mantra of differentiation, or teaming up with others for the sake of reach and economies of scale. Telefonica’s BlueVia has made some noise recently with Telenor joining the BlueVia initiative in Oct 2012. What’s happening in the industry? Continue reading

Has Firefox OS A Good Chance Against The Big Smartphone Platforms from Google and Apple?

More recently news emerged about handset manufacturer ZTE showing off a mobile phone with a new operating system called Firefox OS. Fire is all over the place now. News about a Firefox OS app store leaked onto the Web and Mozilla has brought Firefox OS now to the public on YouTube [1]. There is buzz around what Mozilla and a few network operators are in the process of creating. A new web-based operating system for smartphones, completely open for innovation and much less proprietary then what we got used to, namely Android phones and iPhones. Is the end near for Apple’s ever-rising stock price? Let’s have a closer look. Continue reading

Will HTTP 2.0 Revolutionise Business and the Web?

HTTP 2.0? Ever heard before? It’s a new version of the HTTP protocol being worked on by Internet engineers, specifically now with major input in 2012 from Google and Microsoft. Every time you are browsing the Web, the chosen Internet address likely shows http:// in the address bar. Most likely this is HTTP version 1.1 in use. What sort of revolution is to be expected from the new version? When? What’s the innovation that’s supposed to come along with it? We shed some light on this. Continue reading

Software Developer Guidelines from the Mobile Telecoms Industry? Worth a Look

The first announcement came in Feb 2012, at the industry conference Mobile World Congress: The industry association GSMA has been working on software development guidelines for smartphone applications. This work is continuing. Does it mean that mobile network operators are now aiming at becoming software development consultancies? Not exactly.  There is a more significant rationale behind this. Continue reading

About REST and REST APIs on the Web and in Mobile Telecoms

There has been a lot of buzz in the mobile telecoms industry about a new era, characterised by the emergence of RESTful application programming interfaces (APIs). What is REST in the first place, where are we in the process, has it made a difference, why are RESTful APIs supposedly better than the ones which are not full of rest? Continue reading