Author: Serkadis

Last May, Google introduced Webmaster Academy, a program designed to help would be webmasters learn what they need to know about getting a site up and running with Google. This includes information about how Google Search works, how to create a site, and how to use Google’s diagnostic tools like Webmsater Tools.

The program is divided up into short lessons, which let you track your progress (not entirely unlike Khan Academy).

Until now, Webmaster Academy was only available in English. Today, Google announced that it is launching in 20 new languages.

“The Webmaster Academy was built to guide webmasters in creating great sites that perform well in Google search results. It is an ideal guide for beginner webmasters but also a recommended read for experienced users who wish to learn more about advanced topics,” says Giacomo Gnecchi Ruscone from Google’s Search Quality team.

Webmaster Academy is accessible from Webmaster Central. You can see the full language list at the bottom of this page.

I had the pleasure to attend some of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance Spring Conference this week. It’s always interesting to talk with the providers who are working on the frontlines of rural communities. I spoke with folks in small rural areas who (Emily Telephone) who provide fiber to their customers and folks who cover a more territory (Paul Bunyan Telephone) and are often asked to expand into new areas. I’m hoping to post more later on some of the conversations we had.

It was also interesting to attend some of the sessions where providers learned about opportunities to expand their services. Conversation of the cloud seemed to be a hot topic. It was fun to hear about the range of services that are available – from remote monitoring to management.

One of the highlights was a keynote conversation between FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield, which is captured in the video below. (Thanks for Brent Christensen for permission and John Schultz for help with video.) The video includes a nice introduction from Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Al Franken advocating for the need to expand broadband.

Unfortunately the quality of the video isn’t the best while Commissioner Clyburn is speaking – although it gets better after the first 15 minutes. Bloomfield did ask about the Chairman Genachowski and Commissioner McDowell stepping down. The assumption is that the 1700 people working at the Commission will be able to carry on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cqc5rxX1mg

Here’s a very abbreviated list of questions from the video…

What are your priorities? 

Lifeline reform, universal service reform, broadband pilot programs. Healthcare is also important. We want enhanced and more robust service for consumers.

Universal service and Intercarrier Compensation and need for predictability are important to providers. How will the Sixth Order help?

We’re in a state of transition. The market breeds unpredictability. We have been engaged with reforms that we all agreed had to happen.

Clyburn talks about highlights

• MTA members use funding to provide broadband but there was a need for efficiencies and we have been addressing that need. In the long run we’ll all be better off.
• We have tried to create a smooth transition to leaving within our means while providing the most modern service available.

A lot of providers have lost of SafetyNet additive support for investments made in hard to reach (high cost) areas. Are you looking at consistency and stability for these providers in the future?

About 40 percent of consumers are choosing mobile over fixed phone lines. The challenge is also an opportunity. Providers can transform current investment to include broadband.

We have aging demographic in rural areas. The transition has been difficult because we have some customers who want only to make calls locally. How do you address the issue of local rates going us while local calling area isn’t?

That’s a difficult question. Hard to serve the most vulnerable population. In some areas the cost is going down due to technology. We made sure that the fund no longer subsidized extremely low rates in some areas. It’s part of the new reality. But we are providing protections. The reforms are set up to support folks who want voice-only services. Also we are concerned about lifeline programs. We are increasing efficiencies. We need that to stay in place. It’s a benefit to all of us to have more people connected – in terms of public safety, to secure jobs and for communication.

We’re concerned about people on fixed incomes and people who don’t quality for lifeline. Calling areas of 900 numbers if not the same service as in metro areas where you can reach so many more. How is this addressed?

Our mission is to make sure there’s competition. With competition we provide a wider range of services. I’ve been hearing about basic phones (voice-only) that will be $10/month.

The services you see for unlimited calling (Magic Jack et al) require broadband. But folks like us who provide basic service cannot meet those prices. How can we compete with Vonage?

But there are people who prefer local providers. You could make the case that your service is superior.

The Chair of the PUC spoke to the group. What do you see as the role for PUCs?

They will become more robust. They will continue to be partners. They will be on the frontlines. That’s why we continue to strengthen the relationships.

Minnesota has statutory authority to set state universal service fund for landline only. They’ve never done it. Will there be an impact on Phase II CAF if we don’t look at state USF?

Yes it could but it’s uncertain. We need to see results of cost models. The biggest impact would be price cap carriers choose to accept federal funds – if they don’t we’ll go to reserve auction, which may present unique opportunities. If the state supported price cap carriers, that might help they move forward.

One issue have been getting all broadband providers to pay in (such as wireless). Is there anything we can do to make that happen at a state level?

No. Some states have adopted different approaches.

Going back to broadband adoption. Several members have been piloting lifeline projects. What do you hope to learn from the pilot programs?

Pilots do help us learn. Broadband adoption is a good goal. We need to find a way to best increase broadband adoption efficiently.

Call completion is a problem here. The FCC has established a site for complaints. Do you have an update?

We have taken steps forward. We understand the dire situation. We have talked to providers about our concern and their responsibilities. We have been collecting comments and have been researching call completions looking at rural vs urban.

Some of our providers also do video and wireless. Spectrum is a big issue. We have folks who have spectrum. We have issues with interoperability. Spectrum auctions were most effective when there were smaller spectrum sections available. We still need a wired network – wireless needs wired.

We do ask people about whether or not here should be a mixed framework. Other countries have created situations that have better suited smaller providers. Competition is best served when there’s a diversity of providers.

Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation (the organization that runs Wikipedia) announced today that she is stepping away from her position. She’s not leaving right way. She expects it to take at least six months to find her replacement, and she will remain in her position in the meantime.

She’s been with the foundation since it was small, and has helped lead it to the Internet force it has become. But why is she leaving? She doesn’t like where the Internet is headed. Gardner, who says the decision wasn’t easy, says it comes down to two things.

“First, the movement and the Wikimedia Foundation are in a strong place now,” she says in her announcement. “When I joined, the Foundation was tiny and not yet able to reliably support the projects. Today we’re healthy, thriving, and a competent partner to the global network of Wikimedia volunteers. If that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t feel okay to leave, and in that sense, my leaving is very much a vote of confidence in our Board and executive team and staff. I know they will ably steer the Foundation through the years ahead, and I’m confident the Board will appoint a strong successor to me.”

“I feel that although we’re in good shape, with a promising future, the same is not true for the internet itself. (This is thing number two.) Increasingly, I’m finding myself uncomfortable about how the internet’s developing, who’s influencing its development, and who is not,” she adds. “Last year we at Wikimedia raised an alarm about SOPA/PIPA, and now CISPA is back. Wikipedia has experienced censorship at the hands of industry groups and governments, and we are –increasingly, I think– seeing important decisions made by unaccountable, non-transparent corporate players, a shift from the open web to mobile walled gardens, and a shift from the production-based internet to one that’s consumption-based. There are many organizations and individuals advocating for the public interest online — what’s good for ordinary people — but other interests are more numerous and powerful than they are. I want that to change. And that’s what I want to do next.”

More on recent developments with CISPA here.

Gardner says she intends to do something else aligned with the values of Wikimedia, which might surface in the form of a book, a non-profit, or work in partnership with something that already exists.

“Either way, I strongly believe this is what I need to do,” she says. “I feel an increasing sense of urgency about this. That said, I also feel a strong sense of responsibility (and love!) for the Wikimedia movement, and so I’ve agreed with the Board that I’ll stay on as Executive Director until we have my successor in place. That’ll take some time — likely, at least six months.”

In the meantime, she says, nothing will change.

The Board has appointed a transition team, which will be meeting over the coming weeks, with a face-to-face meeting scheduled for mid-April.

Here’s an interview we did with Gardner back in 2009 about keeping Wikipedia relevant.

Employees of Digital Realty deliver a pre-fabricated electrical room on a skid to a data center site. The company says it will use its POD architecture to develop new space at a facility it has acquired in Ontario. (Photo: Digital Realty Trust).

Citing strong demand and limited supply in the Toronto data center market, Digital Realty Trust has acquired a mixed-use property in Markham, Ontario and will convert part of the site for data center use. Digital Realty, the world’s largest data center developer,  said it paid C$8.65 million ($8.5 million US) to acquire 371 Gough Road in Markham, a 120,000 square foot property approximately 17 miles north of Toronto’s central business district.

“We have been tracking a significant amount of demand for enterprise-quality data center space with very limited supply in the Toronto market,” said Michael Foust, chief executive officer of Digital Realty. “The acquisition of this property expands our existing footprint and enables us to support our customers’ data center requirements in the Toronto market.”

The property currently consists of warehouse and some office space that is 48 percent leased to two tenants, according to Scott Peterson, chief acquisitions officer of Digital Realty. “As a data center, the facility is capable of supporting approximately 5.4 megawatts of IT load, or four 1,350 kW Turn-Key Flex suites, utilizing our new POD Architecture 3.0.”

Digital Realty isn’t the only data center provider that’s building in Toronto. Equinix recently began work on a large new data center in downtown Toronto, while Cologix is also adding new space. Both projects are adjacent to 151 Front Street, the city’s primary carrier hotel and connectivity hub.

Digital Realty operates a data center portfolio comprised of 22 million square feet of space across 119 properties in  32 markets throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. The company’s holdings include an existing property in the Toronto market in Mississagua, Ontario.

BlackBerry service subscribers decreased to 76 million, down 3 million from a quarter ago, but cost-cutting and hardware sales helped the company earn a profit in its final fiscal quarter of the year. On Thursday, the company announced adjusted income of $114 million on revenue of $2.7 billion for the quarter.

As service revenues decrease, BlackBerry is getting more of its revenue from hardware with 61 percent of sales from smartphones and, to a lesser extent, tablets. For the quarter BlackBerry shipped approximately 6 million handsets with nearly 1 million of those being the new Z10 handset. BlackBerry recently announced a 1 million unit order for the Z10 but did not clarify how many, if any, of those are accounted for in this most recent quarter. The company shipped 370,000 BlackBerry PlayBooks during the quarter.

On its investor call, BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins said investors should remember that BlackBerry is in the middle of a phased rollout, that sales are meeting expectations and that 235 carriers have been testing the new handsets favorably.

While the new phones’ rollout, Hiens says that legacy BlackBerry handsets will continue to generate service revenues to help fund the transition. And the higher average selling price of handsets — boosted by the new Z10 — is helping to offset any decreases in hardware sales. But this point could also add to BlackBerry’s challenges going forward. Most of the company’s growth is in regions such as Latin America and Africa where the market for an expensive flagship phone could be limited.

Even if the Z10 and upcoming Q10 handsets take time to generate more sales, the company says it is in good fiscal shape, now with $2.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term investments, which is up from $2.1 billion just three quarters ago.

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DreamWorks Animation SKG and HP have a long history of pushing the boundaries of hardware and animation innovation with a partnership that delivers computing power  to render digital effects for films such as “Rise of the Guardians” and “Kung Fu Panda 2.” DreamWorks’ latest movie, “The Croods,”pushed the boundaries of high-performance workloads, requiring more than 80 million render hours to generate visual images from 3-D models.

HP said its  converged infrastructure rose to the challenge, enabling DreamWorks Animation to render the large amount of data required to produce the film. The studio increased render capabilities to an average of 500,000 jobs a day with the use of HP ProLiant BL460c Gen8 server blades.

“Cutting-edge digital manufacturing requires a huge amount of compute power and orchestrated collaboration across our studios,” said Derek Chan, head, Technology Global Operations, DreamWorks Animation (DWA). “HP Converged Infrastructure ensures that our filmmakers have the technical resources they require to bring their creative vision to life and deliver amazing films to our audiences.”

Serving as a foundation for the new movie were HP servers, storage, networking, services, management software and workstations, as well as HP printers and digital rendering.  DreamWorks relied on ProLiant servers and HP Enterprise Services in render farms across four geographic locations.

Additionally, HP Z820 workstations with dual Intel Xeon processors helped artists work on large, complex scenes, HP Z800 workstations were used  in the new DreamWorks Animation state-of-the-art recording studio, and HP Remote Graphics Software allowed  artists across studios in Glendale, Redwood City and Bangalore to collaborate in real time on a single desktop display.

HP hardware, software and services were used from start to finish in the making of “The Croods”, building on a relationship with DreamWorks that began in 2001. Through that relationship DreamWorks takes advantage of HP FlexNetwork architecture, HP Managed Print Services, HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, HP Remote Intelligent Management Center, and HP DreamColor professional displays and printers.

People Power, a company that since 2009 has managed to make open-source home-energy tracking hardware and software, an enterprise-focused energy-tracking cloud service, and a consumer-facing mobile app that tracked home energy usage, has a new plan for itself. A plan that involves the internet of things.

The company is launching Presence, an iOS app that converts an existing iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone into a remote camera. The idea is that people have older versions of Apple devices lying around and this app can help people put them to use in a new way — as a home-monitoring service. Eventually, People Power’s CEO Gene Wong hopes the app becomes a control point for other connected devices in the home.

To that end, the firm already has deals with SimpliciKey, a connected lock company, and Monster, the cabling company that has a line of connected plugs that are similar to the Belkin WeMo. While the app is free for consumers to download, the hope is that manufacturers will strike deals to connect other devices through the app and sell them to customers there as well.

Already the Presence app offers a list of accessories that will help in the process of turning a portable device into a stationary remote camera. Stands, tripods, extra-long cables and extra chargers are all offered through the app. As for the rationale behind this switch from helping customers conserve energy to helping them monitor their homes (or pets), Wong said:

“One of the things we discovered is people don’t care enough about saving a few bucks and they don’t care about saving the planet. So what we have done by moving to Presence is we are tapping into things that people really care about: their family, their pets, their elderly parents, and … improving their safety and security.”

And what about the app? It’s incredibly simple to install and set up a camera. I was sharing my iPad as a remote camera with a colleague in less than 3 minutes. I don’t have any unused iOS products lying around, so my tests weren’t exhaustive by any means, but it has some nice features that are simple to enable.

Likes:

• It has a simple user interface that allows you to set your camera up to share video and audio or video but not audio and vice versa. This is nice if you want to enable a picture but not have people overhear your conversations.
• There’s a simple rules option that lets you set up if/then statements to “program” how the camera works.
• You can darken the screen if you want to make the camera unobtrusive.
• When someone logs into the account and can watch you, a message flashes on the screen letting those around the remote camera know it’s being monitored (this is printed in white so if the background is white, it doesn’t show up all that well).
• The motion detection works well. When it’s triggered it will send a five-second video of whatever triggered it to your email. At that point you can log in and view the camera if you’d like.

Dislikes:

• I worry about having any remote-controlled camera attached to the public internet in my home. Wong assures me the People Power cloud is safe, but I’m always cautious.
• Wong detailed how one could use this as an easy way to create a videoconference for someone who isn’t technically savvy enough for Skype. Just load the app on an old device and ship it to grandpa with the log in and password. With a shared account you can create a face-to-face conversation. In practice though, finding the right buttons to share the video wasn’t easy.
• This is a battery hog, so you do need to plug it in if you want this to run more than an hour or so. The company is clear about that, but it bears repeating.

So will People Power’s pivot help it conquer the internet of things after it couldn’t gain traction in the energy-management space? The app is nice and an Android version of it should come out later this year. I do know several people who have older iPhones or iPod Touches lying around the house that might get upcycled into the home monitoring job, but I don’t know how big that market is.

As far as home monitoring, it competes with Dropcam, new IP-based alarm system Scout, and apps like AirBeam. And its one-app-to-control-all plan is one that several companies from MobiPlug to SmartThings all have in their own sights.

In the meantime, Wong says People Power will continue to support those “thousands of customers” who use the energy-monitoring app until he can fold them gracefully into this new app if it succeeds. Perhaps the third (or fourth) time is the charm for People Power.

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If you visit the Apple store you might see a sleek, black package of three lightbulbs by Philips that advertise themselves as being colorful and connected. You might then look at the $200 price tag and walk away. But as George Yianni, the creator of the Hue and a systems architect at Philips says in this week’s podcast, that price tag isn’t too crazy when you look at what you get.

When Philips asked Yianni to create a connected light bulb in 2011, his response was to wonder why people might need or want such product. In the interview he explains what he discovered, how people are using it (both the mundane and the wacky) and talks about how Philips is thinking about adding connectivity to other products. I got the sense that a connected Sonicare toothbrush might not be in the cards. Check out the podcast for all that and some insights from Kevin Toms, the Hue’s SDK designer and developer advocate on the Hue’s newly created developer program.

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Show notes:
Host: Stacey Higginbotham

• Why Philips created the Hue and why it’s so expensive
• Philips’ view on why the internet of things should be open
• How can you tell when you should you add connectivity to a product?
• Why Philips built a formal developer program

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A diagram of the three-tier network featuring Switch Light, an open source effort that provides thin switching based on the OpenFlow project.(Image: BigSwitch Networks)

Big Switch Networks this week introduced introduced Switch Light, an open source thin switching software platform that can be deployed as a virtual switch for server hypervisors. BigSwitch’s ambitious goal is to accelerate the adoption of OpenFlow-based networking, providing more choices in networking hardware and reducing the cost of operating virtual and physical networks.

As a part of the Big Switch Networks Open SDN Suite, Switch Light will include both open source and commercial solutions for the community and enterprise customers. Initially it will be available to run on a range of merchant silicon-based physical switches (Switch Light for Broadcom) and virtual switches (Switch Light for Linux), and will be ported to other data plane devices in the future. Switch Light will be available for free, with Big Switch Networks offering technical support and commercial services when it is deployed with other products in the its suite.

“In making our open-source thin switching platform available to the market, we aim to accelerate the development of OpenFlow-based switches, both through ODM and OEM partners, thereby catalyzing the deployment of OpenFlow networks,” said Guido Appenzeller, CEO of Big Switch Networks. “Customers are demanding choice in Open SDN hardware and want to unite their physical and virtual platforms. Switch Light is an important step down that path.”

Among those welcoming the arrival of Switch Light was Quanta Computer, the Taiwan-based original design manufacturer that is moving into direct sales of servers based on designs developed by the Open Compute Project. Quanta could benefit from the development of open networking alternatives such as Software Defined Networking (SDN), just as it has from open server and storage designs.

“Quanta has a proven record of success and leadership in deploying servers, storage and top of rack switches to big data centers,” said Mike Yang, general manager and vice president of Quanta QCT. “We see demand for a similar model in the networking market that keeps growing but has traditionally been dominated by proprietary vendors.  Partnering with an SDN innovator like Big Switch gives our clients a reliable choice with a complete open SDN stack.”

Switch Light is based on the open source Indigo Project, a sub-project within Project Floodlight, an open source SDN community project that was launched this week.

Project Floodlight

Big Switch also announced that Project Floodlight has grown to be the world’s largest open source SDN community, already encompassing over 200,000 lines of code, 15,000 downloads of the Floodlight controller, and contains contributions from more than 10 ecosystem institutions and vendors around the world. The updated open source community website replaces OpenFlowHub.org. Big Switch Networks open source community initiatives date back to Stanford University and the Clean Slate Project, which was led by Appenzeller, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

At the core of Floodlight is the Indigo Project, which produces open source software that is used by developers and vendor partners to implement the OpenFlow protocol on physical and hypervisor switches. A growing list of innovative users and ecosystem vendor partners around the world are building applications and deployments on open source SDN projects including the Floodlight controller and the Indigo OpenFlow agent. Companies include 6WIND, Canonical, Caltech/CERN, FireMon, Overture, Radware, and SRI International.

“Ubuntu is the most popular platform for OpenStack because of its ability to integrate cutting edge technologies,” said Kyle MacDonald, Canonical VP of Cloud. “Our enterprise and carrier customers are already demanding advanced networking solutions based on open standards, so we are supportive of Big Switch’s commitment to Open SDN and Project Floodlight, as they provide our customers the flexibility needed to build dynamic cloud infrastructure while simplifying network operations.”

Head of Open Source at Big Switch Networks Paul Lappas writes the introductory blog post about Project Floodlight and its transition from OpenFlowHub.org, which launched in January 2012.