Seeking Solutions for the Network

Not a question most of us deal with, but we all have our network issues. And when we say “Network,” we mean the network of everything.

The growth of bandwidth and IP connectivity on multiple platforms — TV, broadband, and mobile — creates unprecedented opportunity for businesses and consumers to consume digital content on their own terms. The challenge is finding solutions for the network to keep pace with the stunning demand.

Currently 32% of network downtime is currently attributed to link failures due to network congestion and fiber cuts, according to a University of Michigan study. These cuts can be caused by any number of incidences, even prairie dogs, as we’ve learned,.
Facilitating a broad ICT industry discussion on the broadband network and its needs is the focus of TIA’s new annual event: “TIA 2011: Inside the Network.”

We know that the network needs to be secure, reliable, scalable and sustainable. Performance is key. But how can the network live up to those needs and demands when year-over-year increase in data usage for Smart Phones was 230 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

How can the ICT industry handle the data demands of 1.1 billion Smart Phones predicted to be in service in 2013? When 90% of consumer IP traffic is video data in 2013, how can the network keep up with such robust demands?

Ahead of the event next May, TIA is posing 20 tough questions to top ICT industry technologists. Questions such as:

• Smart grids will make utilities more efficient and reliable, but how will we secure control from harmful hackers?
• What cross-industry metrics should be developed for network performance and security?
• How do you build infrastructure across integrated networks?

Answers to these questions, which will undoubtedly lead to more questions, will inform a larger discussion at “TIA 2011: Inside the Network,” May 17-21 at the Gaylord Texan Hotel, near Dallas. The call for papers is now open and runs through Nov. 15.
For the record, when TIA President Grant Seiffert visited Pioneer Communications in Ulysses recently, they were working on solutions to the prairie dog problem. One down, 20 to go … and counting.