Connectivity & Cloud - Page 7

Apple is reportedly looking into launching its own satellites in an effort that would totally bypass wireless carriers here on Earth, according to the latest rumors.

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple has its own "secret team working on satellites and related wireless technology, striving to find new ways to beam data such as internet connectivity directly to its devices". This team has just over 10 people working on it so far, with Apple wanting to see their results "within five years".

Apple's satellite plans might fall out of the sky before they're even launched, with Bloomberg adding that Apple CEO Tim Cook is interested in the satellite project... but it could be scrapped as "a clear direction and use for satellites hasn't been finalized". I can see Apple blasting next-gen 5G and other data directly to its devices, bypassing wireless carriers -- but it's a lot easier saying that, than actually doing it -- and doing it to Apple's very high standards.

Qualcomm's annual Snapdragon Summit started today, with the whirlwind announcement of its next-gen Snapdragon 865 mobile platform -- a cemented future in 5G expecting 2.8 billion 5G devices in 2025, and then Verizon took the stage.

Verizon has been a close partner of Qualcomm for many years now, and has been investing into its infrastructure to have it ready for the new world of 5G in 2019, 2020, and beyond. Verizon has been working with partners like the band Chainsmokers on some augmented reality experiences at concerts powered by 5G.

The 5G-powered AR experience was enabled thanks to the multi-gigabit speeds, something that you couldn't do on a sometimes unreliable Wi-Fi connection or much slower 4G connection. Verizon has also been working with Sony on using 5G technology inside of high-end cameras at sports matches to pull high-end video to the post-production office faster.

For those of you excited for the newest high-speed 5G technology, you may be waiting a bit longer. AT&T, which is scheduled to roll out its new 5G service on the 850MHz spectrum, looks to be nothing more than the new band with expected performance similar to the companies' much-despised "Fake 5G" offering of "LTE Advanced" or "5G E".

Users in late 2018 and early 2019 were understandably underwhelmed and upset when they saw a 5G E icon pop up on their AT&T smartphone. They were initially thrilled at the possibility of new insane speeds, only to be met by performance in many cases well under their average 4G LTE speeds.

AT&T has made some very bold claims in regards to 5G service and their capabilities and roadmap, the timeline they provide is for test markets of 5G to be live in late 2018 with devices in hand the same year. We can only assume this was the 5G E service they are referencing, but the fact that the move to actual 5G may be as underwhelming as the 5G E service is not a good sign. We can only hope that this is a mere stepping stone to the actual true 5G, which will come to pass on the 700MHz band sometime soon.

5G is barely here and while I have a 5G handset myself, Samsung's beefy Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, the speeds aren't doing much for me... so far.

This doesn't mean 5G is goign to stop as it has an unstoppable amount of momentum already, with Qualcomm seemingly leading the 5G efforts globally. This won't stop the development of 6G at all, and now we even know what the 6G logo looks like.

Chinese manufacutrer Vivo Mobile has just registrered a 6G logo with the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) recenbtly... like, really recent, as in Octoebr 22. This is very fresh, just like 6G is. Vivo is already dabbling in 5G-enabled smartphones with its recently-unveiled NEX 3 handset.

While it is still a while before we would ever see this on a consumer-level system, it is worth noting that PCI-SIG has announced PCIe 6.0 is already at Rev 0.3.

PCIe 4.0 is just now showing its face on consumer-based systems, and that is after a very long runway for PCIe 3.0 spec. PCI-SIG wants to avoid the kind of long delay like we saw with PCIe 3.0 to 4.0. Many of you may ask why, as modern gaming systems barely can see a benefit from PCIe 4.0 as it is. Well, PCIe, which works excellent for GPUs and now SSD's interface, is used for far more bandwidth-intensive systems such as HPC clusters or large supercomputers. This is where the new spec will be the most needed.

The 6.0 spec should be complete by 2021, according to PCI-SIG, as long as everything goes well. But that does not mean that consumer boards will suddenly be at PCIe 6.0, this all takes time. Sometimes generations of products are needed to get I/O hubs sorted and interfaces laid out to support not just the speed but signal integrity concerns.

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) announced today that the final technical specifications for USB4 are here, with the first USB4 products to arrive in late-2020.

USB4 ushers in dual-lane 40Gbps speeds which equal the dizzying heights of Thunderbolt 3, and double what USB 3.2 offered. USB4 will continue making our lives easier taking in the USB Type-C standard, and will be fully backwards compatible with USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and even Thunderbolt 3.

The new USB4 standard will tackle both data and display connectivity, which means we should (hopefully) see a future of more USB4-powered displays. USB3 was alright, but the transfer speeds didn't match Thunderbolt 3 which became important for content creators and enthusiasts who craved, and actually needed, all that speed.

The El Paso shooting that happened over the weekend truly rocked the world as at least 20 people were killed in what has been called a 'White Nationalist' hate crime.

8Chan has been targeted by people around the globe and deemed a 'hate' spreading website and a means of a megaphone for the gunman who shot dead at least 20 innocent people in El Paso, Texas. The gunman openly said on 8Chan that "In general, I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto." After the events of El Paso, the decision by Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare is to remove their security protection services to the website which would ultimately render 8Chan vulnerable to DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service).

Cloudfare has removed their services to 8Chan to seperate themselves from the tragic events of El Paso. At the moment it is unclear whether or not 8Chan will acquire a new security service to protect the website, or if any security service is willing to step up to the plate and take the heat. 8Chan's founder surprisingly thanked Cloudfare for their separation, saying "Finally this nightmare may have an end." In conclusion, Prince says "Unfortunately the action we take today won't fix hate online. It will almost certainly not even remove 8chan from the Internet. But it is the right thing to do."

Huawei isn't the only one in trouble when it comes to 5G technology and its various troubles over the last dew months, as the Trump administration is reportedly looking into requiring 5G hardware and products being designed, and made outside of China.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the story, adding fuel to the fire by writing the move could "reshape global manufacturing and further fan tensions between the countries". A recent executive order from the White House saw restrictions put in place to restrict some networking hardware and services from other countries coming into, and being available in the US.

All of the concerns of cybersecurity in the US led to a huge 150-day review of the entire US telecommunications supply chain, with one part of that seeing US officials asking telco-equipment manufacturers if they can design and produce the hardware and software that is coming into the US, outside of China. Right now, the US is the epicenter of technology, but no major telecommunications equipment is made in the United States. Most of it, is made in China.

It was barely a week ago that Qualcomm and Apple kissed and made up over 5G chips in future 5G-capable iPhones, with Qualcomm pushing Intel out of the deal and now the chip giant is selling its entire modem business.

Intel selling its entire modem business is big news, with sources of The Wall Street Journal stating Apple is a potential buyer, but there are others that have their hat in the ring for Intel's modem business. Apple buying Intel's modem business isn't something that is new, either, as the company stopped when Qualcomm and Apple worked everything out.

Intel will reportedly have 5G modems next year but it really doesn't matter as Qualcomm is already dominating the 5G market with 5G-capable Snapdragon chips in phones and other devices already.

It was getting pretty hairy there for Apple and the future of the iPhone as Intel couldn't muster up anything but smoke and mirrors with its 5G modems, and now that future is secured thanks to Qualcomm.

Qualcomm and Apple have agreed to settle all of their ongoing lawsuits, which puts a bookend at the end of a lengthy slew of lawsuits that spanned the world across multiple countries. Apple has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to Qualcomm, with a new 6-year global patent licensing agreement, with the option to extend it by another two years.

Apple hasn't been able to offer industry-leading LTE performance from its last few generations of iPhones, and it would've been multiple years behind if it had not secured a deal with the leader in 5G: Qualcomm. Qualcomm would've known this was going to happen and just had to play the long game, waiting patiently and now here we are. Qualcomm 5G technology will be inside of future Apple products, and that's a good thing for everyone involved.

I'm sure you thought that was a click bait headline and I really wish it was, but it is not. It's the reality we live in today, with a British farm trialling 5G-connected cows. Yes, you read that right - 5G-connected cows will be milked in this trial.

Reuters is reporting that the government-funded Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI Centre) in Shepton Mallet, in southwest England. The farm will see 50 or so of the 180 herd fitted with 5G smart collars and health-monitoring ear tags.

Duncan Forbes, the Project Manager at the Agri-Epi Centre explained: "We are testing the ability of 5G to transmit the data from our sensors much quicker, and not via farm's PC and slow broadband internet connection. And the significance of that is it means that this sort of technology could be taken up... not just on farms but on rural communities right across the country".

5G smartphones will be here later this year with Qualcomm paving the way to 5G dominance with its Snapdragon family of products to roll out throughout 2019 that will power the next wave of devices. But what about the 5G roll out in the US?

AT&T has now declared that it is the first US-based telco to hit 1Gbps speeds on a 5G network, something the carrier did in "multiple cities" on the Netgear Nighthawk 5G mobile hotspot. The 5G testing is happening by invitation in 12 cities across the US, with AT&T's SVP of wireless technology Igal Ebaz, telling PCMag in an exclusive interview: "It was just the evolution of the standards and the capabilities. The software had to evolve across all of the ecosystem".

This is obviously just a test but 5G speeds on Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8cx processor will reach a dizzying 7Gbps, which will deliver over 800MB/sec of speed to your smartphone or Windows-based device. Even if you're getting 1Gbps that is a huge increase over the speeds that 4G, something that AT&T will only boost when it flicks the switch that will combine LTE and 5G into a single connection.

We know that the world of 5G begins this year with an unlimited marketing train starting with 5G leader Qualcomm, but both Qualcomm and Intel were teasing 5G modules for M.2 slots at Mobile World Congress 2019, an interesting move for 5G adoption.

Fibocom was showing off its FG100 module at MWC 2019, a new M.2 module that packs the Intel XMM8160 5G modem that will make its way into new PCs and laptops. AnandTech also saw a "similar M.2 module" that used the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 modem, and was on display at the Qualcomm booth at MWC 2019. The new 5G modules are on the widest M.2 standard which is 30mm wide, and as AT notes is "8mm wider than the storage based drives we normally see in this form factor". The Fibocom FG100 has support for both NSA and SA networks, and 5G in mmWave bands and sub 6GHz, too.

We're looking at up 2.4Gbps of LTE download speeds using LTE, up to 4Gbps using sub-6GHz, and up to 6Gbps on mmWave. Upload speeds aren't too far off with up to 450Mbps on LTE, around 2.5Gbps on sub-6, and up to 3Gbps on mmWave.

If you weren't already confused about USB and its last moves with the USB 3.2 standard then buckle up, because things are about to get more confusing. The USB Promoter Group, which is the standards body of the USB specification, has announced the new USB4 standard.

The new USB4 standard will be fully detailed in the coming months, but for now we know there will be a doubling in bandwidth from 20Gbps over USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 to a huge 40Gbps under USB4. USB4 will rid itself of the Type-A connector and move into the world of USB-C which will unify things on top of pumping a huge 40Gbps of bandwidth around.

The slightly confusing part is that USB4 is not just a new standard, but it is a new speed and connection standard.

It seems that the days of straightforward standard naming are behind us, with USB-IF determined to rename both the USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 standards to USB 3.2. Back when USB-IF renamed USB 3.0 (5Gbps) and USB 3.1 (10Gbps) to USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Gen 2, many people were confused as to why they would rename a standard that was so easy to understand.

It seemed like a marketing move to intentionally confuse consumers, and it seems like they are going to do it again. USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) will be renamed to USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) will be renamed to USB 3.2 Gen 2, and the actual new 20Gbps standard will be renamed to USB 3.2 Gen2 x2, which will be two lanes of USB 3.1, USB 3.1 Gen 2, or USB 3.2 Gen 2 depending on the time of the year.

We also learned from a USB-IF partner company rep on Reddit, that there will also be a USB 3.2 Gen 1 x2, which is two 5Gbps lanes, for a total of 10Gbps. While USB-IF has said that the marketing names for these ports will be SuperSpeed USB (5Gbps), SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps, and SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps, we expect most device specifications and product markings to use the former naming scheme as most currently do.

Qualcomm has just unveiled its second-gen 5G modem with teh announcement of the Snapdragon X55, a beast of a chip that handles both 5G and 4G connectivity with support for both mmWave and sub-6GHz spectrums, like its X50 predecessor.

The new Snapdragon X55 ramps up theoretical peak speeds to 7Gbps (up from 5Gbps) download and up to 3Gbps upload. You won't hit those speeds walking around down, as you'll need to use the right phone, be in the right spot, and have perfect network conditions to be pulling down 7Gbps and uploading at a huge 3Gbps. Qualcomm has introduced 5G FDD support in the new Snapdragon X55, which is an important building block for Europe and other countries where it will free up low-frequency spectrum (600MHz to 900MHz) for that all-important 5G.

Qualcomm hosted its annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in Maui, Hawaii last year where it talked about using the Snapdragon X50 inside of the 5G-powered smartphones of 2019, but the new Snapdragon X55 will be what powers the 5G phones of tomorrow... as in 2020, and beyond. Qualcomm says it won't have Snapdragon X55 available until "late 2019", the company just announced it ahead of time to blow our minds open even more.

It looks like I'll need to move to South Korea for some blistering fast internet access, with SK Broadband announcing its new 2.5Gbps high-speed internet service recently, teasing future 5Gbps and 10Gbps connectivity.

SK Broadband is owned by South Korea's largest wireless carrier, SK Telecom, which use their Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) to hit 2.5/5/10Gbps. GPON technology uses something called a "point-to-multipoint architecture" that sees a single optical fiber line with multiple unpowered fiber splitters.

The carrier says that it developed GPON technology as an alternative to ethernet cables, with a single SK GPON reaching 52.5Gbps, which is absolute insanity. SK Broadband is expecting to be able to provide 5Gbps and 10Gbps internet services in 2H 2018, all powered with their GPON technology.

Qualcomm threw down the 5G gauntlet last year, but with their massive 3Gbps speeds teased in 5G simulation tests during MWC 2018 the company is taking it to the next level. Intel is now teasing its own huge 5G push where the company will be powering a "broad-scale" 5G network at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Intel has announced it will be working with NTT Docomo to build a 5G network for the 2020 Olympic games in Japan, which is something Intel is expecting to be the biggest 5G deployment in the world, at the time of the Olympics.

Better yet, Intel is promising insane 8K 360-degree video streams over their 5G network for the 2020 Olympics in Japan. We should see 4K and 8K cameras and even drones capturing 4K video by then, with these cameras 5G-enabled. Intel says that it will also be powering 5G integration in vehicles, with teh company already seeing 1Gbps while watching 4K video and on-the-move at 30kmph (18.6mph).

Qualcomm will enter an entire new level of dominance once they get 5G into the world, but just how fast will those speeds be? We know to expect over 1Gbps, but up to 5Gbps? We're talking over 500MB/sec downloads over a cellular connection and not Wi-Fi, but that is the future.

Qualcomm decided to run 5G simulated tests during Mobile World Congress, where they modeled two real-world conditions in Frankfurt, and San Francisco. The locations are based on existing cell sites and spectrum allocations in two popular, and very dense cities.

The simulation took into consideration things like geography, varying user demands on the network, a bunch of different devices with varying levels of LTE and 5G connectivity for different speeds across devices in order to simulate what to expect from a 5G device.

Last year Intel had announced their new XMM 8000 series of 5G modems, and now they have partnered up with vendors to make mobile PCs with 5G a reality in 2019.

Intel is working with Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft to make this reality sooner rather than later. In fact, if you attend Mobile World Congress (MWC), you will be able to see a new detachable 2-in-1 PC with an early 5G modem and an i5 8th Generation processor.

Intel will demo 5G by showing live streaming of a video over the 5G network. With the increase in throughput that 5G offers, the technology will change the way we experience data. Intel wants us to imagine untethered VR, downloading a 250MB file in seconds in a parking lot, and even multi-player gaming in your autonomous car.