The firm's study, 'North American Fiber Broadband Report: FTTH Review and Forecast 2026-2030,' indicates that nearly $200 billion will be spent on fiber over the next five years, highlighting a significant investment in fiber-to-the-home services.
Light-based internet provider Taara, which spun out of Alphabet's "moonshot" incubator last year, just launched Taara Beam to provide 25Gbps connectivity within cities over invisible beams of light - line of sight permitting. Unlike last year's Taara Lightbridge, which connects communities separated by water and mountains at distances up to 20km (over 12 miles), the shoebox-sized Beam can be mounted to street poles and roof tops for city-wide connectivity at distances up to 10km. The 8kg (less than 20 pounds) device typically consumes about 90W.
NIST has developed a chip that reliably emits a single photon on demand. This ability will improve the efficiency of QKD (quantum key distribution) as we prepare for the arrival of quantum computers. Quantum computers will upend current cryptology by using Shor's algorithm to rapidly negate the current public/private key secure encryption methods. This has largely been solved by NIST's post quantum cryptology (PQC) algorithms.
Edge computing is a type of IT infrastructure in which data is collected, stored, and processed near the "edge" or on the device itself instead of being transmitted to a centralized processor. Edge computing systems usually involve a network of devices, sensors, or machinery capable of data processing and interconnection. A main benefit of edge computing is its low latency. Since each endpoint processes information near the source, it can be easier to process data, respond to requests, and produce detailed analytics.
NMSurf is one of the largest fixed wireless providers in New Mexico, serving the central and northern area of the state. La Bajada was previously served by a 3-Gig microwave middle-mile connection. But, Catanach said, the bandwidth was becoming insufficient. New microwave licenses are hard to come by in New Mexico, he added, because the state itself claims many licenses for radio communications.
Ookla said the growing use of ChatGPT and other AI tools places much more demand on mobile networks than the typical activities of browsing social media and the web, watching videos, texting, and making the occasional phone call. As a result, more speed and expanded capabilities will be necessary. The report said advanced AI capabilities like AI-enabled glasses will put a particular strain on upload connections in the future.
