IP: excellent write-up of the recent CANARIE Advanced Networks Workshop

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 22:37:00 +0900
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Adam Peake <ajp () glocom ac jp>
>
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 09:44:25 -0500 (EST)
> > From: CAnet-3-NEWS () canarie ca
> > Subject: CANARIE Sings Lovely Song
> >
> > For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 3 Optical
> > Internet program web site at http://www.canet3.net
> > -------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > CANARIE SINGS LOVELY SONG
> > by David S. Isenberg for Metamarkets.com
> >
> > The recent CANARIE Advanced Networks Workshop (Toronto, Nov. 29-30, 1999),
> > an annual event, drew participants from all over Canada plus networking
> > experts from around the world, notably Sweden, the Netherlands, and Korea,
> > with a smattering from a less developed southern country -- the United
> > States.
> >
> > CANARIE stands for the Canadian Advanced Network for Research, Industry,
> > and Education. CANARIE is similar to Internet2 in the US, but industry
> > takes more active role.  And the Canadians have some apparently great
> > companies like Newbridge, JDS Uniphase, PMC Sierra, Teleglobe (I *think*
> > it's great; certainly it has huge connectivity on the great circle between
> > Europe and Asia), and even Nortel.
> >
> > Also, unlike any other nethead meeting I've ever been to, school networks,
> > especially nets for the Kindergarten-12 grades, were significantly
> > represented.
> >
> > The biggest impression I took away was this: It sure looks like Gigabit
> > Ethernet (GigE) over glass (and even 10 Gigabit Ethernet, though still in
> > the labs) is coming on like gangbusters.  GigE is following the classic
> > Clayton Christensen disruptive trajectory, rapidly improving in capability,
> > moving up-market from LAN to WAN to displace ATM and SONET, to become the
> > network architecture of choice.  The move to GigE seems to be coming first
> > in entirely new Internet-created companies, then it reaches newly networked
> > market segments (especially public institutions), then it slowly penetrates
> > older, already-networked sectors like telcos, banks, etc.
> >
> > Since there are many more LANs than WANs, GigE, due to its Ethernet LAN
> > heritage, has huge economies of scale.  (Every flavor of Ethernet that has
> > hit the marketplace has slid down a 30% per year price reduction curve.)
> > GigE's use in both LAN and WAN gives greater scale yet.  Plus by erasing
> > the LAN/WAN boundary, GigE decreases the complexity of the network, making
> > it even stupider, easier to manage and easier to innovate upon.  So it
> > looks like the Stupid Network will be built of GigE over glass, and it
> > looks like CANARIE's CA*Net3 will be its first pure nationwide
> > instantiation.
> >
> > Referring to the disappearance of the LAN/WAN distinction, Bjorn Roos, who
> > is building a 190 node, GigE "from core to closet" optical Internet for
> > Stockholm schools (using the Stokab municipal dark fiber infrastructure)
> > quipped, "I am sad to say I had to change my title. I used to be a WAN
> > manager but now I am a LAN manager again!"
> >
> > But it looks like the big Canadian innovations are more regulatory than
> > technical, notwithstanding the huge progress in Internet over GigE over
> > glass. The CRTC (the Canadian FCC), in sharp contrast to the US FCC, has
> > ruled that Canadian Cable TV operators are common carriers, and ordered
> > them to open their head-ends to any ISP.  Then, when the cable guys didn't
> > do it, last September the CRTC slapped them with an order to re-sell
> > head-end access to all ISPs at a 25% discount!  That'll goose up Canadian
> > Internet competition!
> >
> > In contrast, in the US, some industry advocates, including FCC Chairman
> > Bill Kennard, make dire predictions that open access to cable networks
> > (especially AT&T's) would chill investment in broadband infrastructure.
> > Poor AT&T needs its $120 Billion investment protected.  (I want the US
> > Government to protect my OpenFund investment, too -- it'd be in the public
> > interest, dontcha think? -- but I can't seem to hire enough lobbyists to
> > make my case.)
> >
> > In Canada, open access is not discouraging investment in broadband nets,
> > not at all! The Canadians seem to understand the centrality of a broadband
> > communications infrastructure to their economy.  They are pushing towards
> > fiber everywhere with a national will.
> >
> > Where there's a will, there's right of way.  Any Canadian public
> > institution -- schools, hospitals, cities, universities, churches, etc. --
> > can hang their own cables on telephone poles.  Lots of them are doing it.
> > As a result, there is already much fiber in Canada's neighborhoods, close
> > enough to where people live that fiber to the home will soon be common.
> >
> > I should point out that there is significant neighborhood fiber activity in
> > the United States, but it is more spotty and isolated.  It does not have
> > the support of the telecom industry or the regulatory establishment, but it
> > is going on!  Spokane WA and Palo Alto CA are two good examples of the 47
> > US communities with municipal fiber and a civic understanding of how
> > broadband connectivity makes their economy vital.  Ken Poulton (Palo Alto
> > Fiber Network) and Dennis Schweikhardt (Spokane Public School District 81)
> > reported strong progress.
> >
> > Telecom whistleblower Bruce Kushnick (who was not there, but is a good
> > friend of mine) says, "AT&T is Mother Theresa compared to the RBOCs." Lon
> > Berquist, of the University of Texas Telecommunications & Information
> > Policy Institute, reported that there are 6 US states that prohibit or
> > restrict municipal telecom.  These RBOC lap-dog states include Arkansas,
> > Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Texas and Virginia.  Shame, shame, shame, shame,
> > shame, shame.  If a city wants to run a sewer system, it can.  If a city
> > wants to manage its own streets, it can.  If a city wants to provide water,
> > power, garbage collection, etc., there is nothing that prevents it from
> > pursuing its own economic interests and defining the standards of municipal
> > service that its citizens should expect.
> >
> > Please don't label me a Commie Symp for this opinion.  (I gave up when the
> > wall went down.)  I'm all for private enterprise where it creates open
> > markets and real competition.  Metromedia Fiber Networks is doing great
> > work to bring abundant dark fiber to US cities, but until we have a dozen
> > such companies, if small and mid-tier cities want their citizens to have
> > beef, they will have to rope and tie their own calf.
> >
> > As we move into the age of networks, countries with good infrastructures
> > upon which they can build a vibrant, competitive networked marketplace,
> > like Canada and Sweden, will prosper.  The future will appear in these
> > places first.  Conference keynoter Peter Lothberg described the goal of
> > Sweden's national fiber initiative.  He said, "We never want to run into a
> > scenario where we'll be bandwidth limited again."
> >
> > David I -- http://isen.com
> > -------
> >
> > *--------------------isen.com----------------------*
> > David S. Isenberg              isen () isen com
> > isen.com, inc.         888-isen-com (inside US)
> > http://isen.com/               908-654-0772 (from abroad)
> > *--------------------isen.com----------------------*
> >     -- The brains behind The Stupid Network --
> > *--------------------isen.com----------------------*
> >
> >
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> >
> > -------------------------------------
> >
> > Bill St. Arnaud
> > Senior Director Network Projects
> > CANARIE
> > bill.st.arnaud () canarie ca
> > +1 613 785-0426