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Optical Communications Trends 2011

3/1/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
1  Comment · Permalink

The Internet and mobile devices continue to grow as key utilities in people’s lives, presenting the optical communications industry with new opportunities and challenges in 2011 to ensure that networks can keep up with demand.

Looking back at 2010, there were internet and mobile records broken regularly and 2011 will be no exception. 72 million people are expected to watch full-length TV episodes online in 2011, and they will expect a fast, reliable and high definition service. This growing online viewership will further boost a 2010 estimate indicating that video consumes 37 percent of total bandwidth during peak viewing hours. By 2013, Cisco predicts that global internet traffic will reach 767 exabytes. It’s hard to visualize the size of this statistic - the number is 100 times larger than all the grains of sand that cover the entire earth.

In the mobile space, Verizon launched its 4G LTE network in December 2010, promising 10 times the performance of its 3G network and AT&T indicated 4G networks are coming soon to various regions. Networks also saw surges in bandwidth that reflected times when wildly popular new devices such as the iPhone 4 were released. It’s all about speed and performance for users, regardless of the access point or device. As fast as engineers can innovate new applications and devices, carriers will adopt them to differentiate and improve their service to the end user.

In developing regions of the world, the cost of deploying 2G networks will continue to reduce and network expansions into these new markets will accelerate in 2011.

Big priorities for the optical communications industry in 2011 will be supporting the need for faster data rates, more powerful switching, and smarter network architectures that can handle unpredictable and fast-changing traffic patterns and improve cost efficiencies.

Optics created for the telecom market will also continue to move into other exciting new areas as businesses develop new products and technologies that benefit from the proven performance that optics provide. Suppliers that can combine product innovation with an optimized supply chain will have a decided advantage in all of these areas.

My next blog will go into more specific optical communications trends for 2011.

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Categories:Optical Communications Trends

 

Gesture Recognition: Gaming is Just the Beginning

2/28/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
1  Comment · Permalink

​Over the next few years, gesture recognition will move beyond gaming and there are endless ways it could impact people's lives. I came up with the list below and invite you to share your ideas:

Living Room. You will be able to relax on your couch and wave your hand to select an on-demand video from your TV, order a pizza, or take a video conference call without having to fumble for a remote or phone. 

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Smart Phones. Picture a smart phone on a little stand with a pico projector that provides a less cramped and virtual typing interface for messaging and web surfing.

Medicine and Science. Gesture recognition could allow doctors or scientists to manipulate computing applications without devices such as a keyboard, touch screen or mouse to help preserve sterile environments.

Virtual Meetings. A presenter could walk around a virtual meeting room, control a presentation, draw images and pass documents back and forth to participants with gestures, making information sharing in meetings more seamless.

Rehabilitation. Gesture recognition could help people with disabilities use gesture in the place of speech or as advanced sign language.

Education. It could help children learn who can't yet read or for those with learning disabilities. 

Fun. You could take a trip through the Amazon in your Star Trek-style holodeck, creating the 3D experience around you along the way with voice and gesture commands. OK, I may be getting a little excited here or maybe I just need a vacation, but you get the idea.

The underlying theme is that gesture recognition will help people control technology in a much more natural way instead of having to adapt to a constraining series of commands. This will save time and allow people to focus on creativity instead of mechanics, creating a new range of exciting multimedia experiences.

What do you think will be the next big application for gesture recognition?


Categories:Gesture Recognition

 

The Early Gesture Recognition Market

2/24/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
0  Comments · Permalink

​Since the gesture recognition market is still in its early stages, there are a variety of suppliers around the world that are emerging as key players. To create a gesture recognition system today, there are multiple companies that own different parts of the build that are then coordinated by the end hardware manufacturer.

JDSU is an example of a company that supplies key technologies for gesture recognition systems that include high-performance diodes, or light source technology, and optical coating technology. These technologies detect and extract information from a person's movements so that it can be incorporated into a system such as a computer or TV.

Another part of the supply chain includes suppliers that create high-speed integrated circuits to process all of the data such as Applied Micro, Analog Devices, Motorola and Texas Instruments.

Then there are companies that integrate all of the required components to make final gesture recognition sensors in massive quantities. Many of these integrators are in Asia and include eLaser, Foxconn, and Hitachi and Tessera.

Companies like PrimeSense and Optrima come into play by providing the secret sauce, or IP design for overall gesture recognition systems. 

At the end of the supply chain are major multinational companies in gaming, TV, computing and smart phones who sell customized end products to consumers. Microsoft is the first company to make noise about gesture recognition, and you can expect to hear from other well known companies soon. Microsoft has deemed gesture recognition important enough for two acquisitions, one with Israeli-based 3DV Systems in 2009 and one with California-based Canesta (announced in October 2010).

 

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If you look at the size of the gaming, computing. home entertainment, and mobile phone industries, future business opportunities for gesture recognition are expansive. There are multiple billions of follars to be made as the technology evolves and companies figure out how to tap these markets. Second and third generation versions of gesture recognition technology are already in the works.

The biggest challenge gesture recognition providers will face is supporting a high volume consumer market while keeping costs down. For example, if smart phone companies decide to put gesture recognition technology in every phone, the supporting suppliers will need to come up with new supply chain approaches that keep pace with rapid demand. 

In my final upcoming blog on gesture recognition, I will share thoughts about possible uses for gesture recognition in the future. 

Categories:Gesture Recognition

 

Gesture Recognition: Getting Rid of the Remote

2/23/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
1  Comment · Permalink

Gesture recognition is exciting new technology that lets a person control applications by using gestures or body movements instead of using a controller, remote or other device, simplifying the way that people interact with technology.

Gesture recognition made its debut at the end of 2010 with the introduction of the Kinect console for Xbox gaming applications. In the first two months, Microsoft sold 8 million Kinect consoles, a positive indicator to how people are responding to the technology. Many companies are looking into its possibilities and new gesture recognition applications beyond gaming are expected in the not-so-distant future.

Let me share an example of how gesture recognition works in a video game. As you make gestures or movements as part of a game, a sensor in the console on your TV uses infrared light to track your movements and creates a 3D image map that is fed back into the system. Your own personal avatar becomes part of the virtual environment and responds seamlessly to body movements that you make. We’ve got a gesture recognition 101 demo that walks through the process.

Dance Central has already become a popular game that uses the full potential of initial gesture recognition technology. Another good example would be a person in a living room using a hand gesture in front of a TV to pull up a movie or a web site. PrimeSense has a great movie trailer about how gesture recognition will impact the living room experience.

You can imagine the wide possibilities for new applications. In the future, my children’s kids could be part a whole generation of people who have no need for a remote, keyboard or mouse.

In the next blog, I will talk about the overall market for gesture recognition.

 JDSU Gesture Recog. Technology.JPG

Categories:Gesture Recognition

 

JDSU Hosts Analyst Day

2/21/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
1  Comment · Permalink

On Thursday, February 17,th JDSU held an Analyst Day in San Francisco with approximately 160 participants from the financial community attending in person at the St. Francis Hotel or tuning in via live webcast.

CEO Tom Waechter set the tone for the meeting by linking positive performance to solid execution in a number of areas including: 

Collaboration with customers resulting in innovative and highly differentiated products. A few examples of note are the  tunable XFP, the new high-power fiber laser, & LTE solutions.

Entrance into new high-growth markets such as wireless test. JDSU acquired the Network Solutions Test business from Agilent last year.

Diversification of the business beyond the broadband and mobile sectors. While the broadband and mobile sectors are booming, JDSU is also focusing on areas such as solar CPV, brand authentication, and gesture recognition.

Expanded global presence with new facilities in Asia. Check out footage from the recent Suzhou opening, where optical coatings for gesture recognition and other applications are being manufactured.

Continuous business model improvement through operational efficiencies, lean processes and by leveraging contract manufacturing partners.

Tom Waechter also characterized the JDSU leadership team as one with a ‘fierce resolve to win.’ JDSU leaders from the business units and CFO Dave Vellequette then provided overviews about their respective areas and engaged in lively Q&A with the financial analysts.
 
As an audience member, I was impressed with how well executed the event was, with clear presentations, videos and product demonstrations that reinforced JDSU’s key business goals and opportunities across  many areas. Participants seemed very engaged and spent a great deal of time talking to JDSU leaders during the closing cocktail hour.
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JDSU Analyst Day.JPG

Categories:JDSU Analyst Day 2011

 

Mobile World Congress Report: Day 3

2/18/2011 · Posted by Bernie Tylor
1  Comment · Permalink

While I could have used a few more days in Barcelona, I had to wrap up my visit to Mobile World Congress. My final video report touches on the most talked-about trends and late-breaking headlines at the show.

 

 

Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 3
Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 3
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Categories:Events - Test & Measurement

 

Mobile World Congress Report: Day 2

2/18/2011 · Posted by Bernie Tylor
1  Comment · Permalink

During my second day at Mobile World Congress, I spoke to FISHLABS Entertainment, a cool gaming company that creates high-end 3D gaming applications that drive a lot of bandwidth demand.

 

 

Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 2 Report
Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 2 Report
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Categories:Events - Test & Measurement

 

Mobile World Congress Report: Day 1

2/18/2011 · Posted by Bernie Tylor
1  Comment · Permalink

More than 55,000 people descended upon Barcelona, Spain this week to attend Mobile World Congress 2011, where industry players discussed major mobile trends related to areas such as 4G and LTE. Check out my day 1 video report for more details.

Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 1 Report
Mobile World Congress 2011: Day 1 Report

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories:Events - Test & Measurement

 

Presenting JDSU Perspectives

2/15/2011 · Posted by Jim Monroe
1  Comment · Permalink

Welcome to our blog, JDSU Perspectives.  It’s exciting to be at a company with so much knowledge about technology and how it can be used to enhance the way people experience the world.  That’s our focus for this blog…we want you to see the relevance of JDSU technology.  We’re probably like people at a lot of technology companies: left brains collaborating with right brains to determine the right way to tell the company’s story or describe the importance of a particular product. 

We created this blog without telling the engineers.  Along with a few other JDSU communications people, we’ll use this space to give you our perspective on JDSU and how our technology impacts lives every day.  This is the best part of our job as JDSU’s chief storytellers; showing people, for example, that appreciation for a really fast download of the next Mad Men episode means you really should care about  reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexors (ROADMs).  We’ll keep the acronyms to a minimum.
 
It’s a good week to launch the blog.  We’re hosting (and webcasting) an Analyst Day in San Francisco on Thursday.   JDSU’s CEO, CFO and the heads of our product groups will cover a lot of ground: JDSU’s role in broadband network build-out, the delivery of high-quality video over these networks, gesture recognition, anti-counterfeiting solutions, etc.   We’re also at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  You’ll hear a lot of about LTE/4G this week.  Verizon actually uses the term LTE in their TV commercials so – even though it stands for Long Term Evolution (???)– I don’t consider that an unacceptable acronym.
 
Thanks for reading.  We’ll be back with more perspective on the world of JDSU technology, company news, industry events, etc.  We may even consider a few guest bloggers from the engineering department. Collaboration with our customers, partners and others in the industry is a core JDSU value.  We hope you’ll use JDSU Perspectives to send us feedback and ideas.

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Categories:Mobile World Congress 2011, LTE

 

About Blog and Authors

2/14/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
6  Comments · Permalink

JDSU Perspectives offers an unfiltered view of timely industry trends, innovations, and breaking news from JDSU bloggers and thought leaders. We will strive to demystify ways that JDSU technology impacts people and businesses every day and facilitate conversations on a variety of topics that span the markets we serve.  

Expect to see commentary, video posts, and guest blogger comments on topics that include mobility, the Internet, gesture recognition, clean tech, anti-counterfeiting technology, and much more.
 

Primary Bloggers

 

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Jim Monroe
Jim runs the Corporate Marketing & Communications organization at JDSU, which means he gets to work with PR pros, graphic design artists, web gurus, e-marketing mavens and other communications talent to tell the company’s story.  He held a similar role at MCI (now Verizon) and worked for Fleishman-Hillard (F-H), a communications consulting firm.  At F-H, he served lots of telecom and technology clients and once earned a plum assignment with the Anheuser-Busch Williamsburg (VA) Brewery account. 
 
Jim likes working at such a diverse, cutting-edge technology company…it helps him stay current with his three kids.
Contact Jim at: jim.monroe@jdsu.com
 
 
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Noël Bilodeau
Noël calls herself a “corporate storyteller” and enjoys producing videos and writing stories that reveal different facets about JDSU, particularly in the areas of optical communications, consumer electronics and advanced optical technologies that underlie many of the products people use every day.  She has been with JDSU since 2007, and has also held corporate communications positions at Travelocity and VeriFone in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
In her spare time, Noël is creating a children’s storybook and is doing extensive online research to find the best digital camera to supplement her drawing habit.
Contact Noël at: noel.bilodeau@jdsu.com
 
 
Bernie Tylor
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Bernie Tylor
Bernie has been spreading the word about JDSU for more than seven years – particularly in the areas of emerging communications, broadband, and mobile technologies. The blogosphere will give Bernie an exciting and immediate way to share what’s happening at JDSU as well as interesting tidbits that people may not know about JDSU. He has also held previous communications positions at major telecom companies and communications consulting firms.
 
Bernie once had the privilege of briefing actor Danny Glover for a cool client assignment that one day he hopes will impress his daughter - who is currently too young to care.
Contact Bernie at: bernie.tylor@jdsu.com 
 
 
 
 
 
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Comments & Trackbacks Policy

2/14/2011 · Posted by Noël Bilodeau
1  Comment · Permalink

Comment Policy

The team at JDSU enjoys interacting with you and gladly welcomes your comments. To ensure that comments enhance and not detract from the company’s blog, we’ve created a formal comment policy.

 

Comment & Trackback Moderation

In order to maintain the integrity of the JDSU Perspectives blog and its content, all comments, trackbacks, and pingbacks made to the JDSU Perspectives blog are moderated. We work to review and approve comments, trackbacks and pingbacks as quickly as possible.  Please do not resubmit your comment if it does not appear right away.

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This blog has a diverse audience with different sensibilities and opinions. Please avoid harsh language and the use of profanity. Use of threatening language is not allowed nor will it be tolerated.

 

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JDSU’s blog team reserves the right to edit or delete comments as necessary. Any minor or serious edits will be notated at the end of the comment.
If your comment conveys a coherent thought, it may just be edited; tirades will most likely be deleted. At no time will JDSU attempt to alter the core meaning of a comment.
 
Special Provisions For Comment Spam
JDSU takes comment spam seriously and all IP addresses used for spamming will be reported to the internet blacklists, the ISPs/hosts for the offending domain will be notified, and the owner of the IP block will be notified of the problem.

 

While comment spam continues to proliferate, JDSU can and will do our part to help combat it.

 

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