Stories by: Johna Till Johnson

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Data-leak lessons learned from the 'Climategate' hack 26 November, 2009 07:41

In case you've missed it, someone recently dumped a large cache of e-mail files and documents from the University of East Anglia University's prestigious Climactic Research Unit onto the 'Net. The CRU is one of the leading climatology research institutions, and its data and models provide much of the infrastructure on which the theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is based.
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The battle over voice, the war of UC 06 August, 2009 09:09

Last week, I wrote about the possible implications of the new lineup of FCC commissioners. They certainly haven't wasted any time: On Aug. 3, the FCC launched a full-scale investigation into the decision by Apple and AT&T to reject Google's voice application for the iPhone. As Sanford Bernstein telecom analyst Craig Moffatt notes, "The issue of application suppression affords the Administration a back door route to Wireless Net Neutrality, something that has been openly espoused by new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski."
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A look at cloud computing's dark lining 23 July, 2009 08:04

Unless you've been living in a cave all summer like one of my friends (it's in Finland, he's an artistic genius) you've probably heard the buzz about cloud computing.
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The Internet sky really is falling 07 May, 2009 08:30

Many folks are familiar with the modeling we've done over the past few years highlighting the fact that Internet demand is outstripping capacity, specifically access capacity. The findings were, to put it mildly, controversial: We've been called everything from carrier shills to nut-jobs. (No, the research wasn't sponsored. And we never claimed your fillings were receiving extraterrestrial radio signals).
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Is the Internet doomed to fail? 03 April, 2009 10:40

Sounds like a crazy question, in this era of Facebook, Twitter and a "digital millennial" generation that's grown up never not knowing the Internet.
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About those 'Net capacity issues: There's more 05 December, 2008 06:21

A little over a year ago, my colleagues and I modeled current and projected Internet capacity and anticipated demand to see if the curves ever crossed. The short answer: Yes, sometime before 2012, access (though not core) capacity would no longer be enough to serve demand.
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What's an ISP? (That's not a trick question) 26 November, 2008 09:34

As President-elect Barack Obama begins fleshing out his agenda, one promising sign is that he considers Internet infrastructure to be key, judging from both his stated goals and the caliber of people he's asking to advise him on policy.
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A glimpse of the (networked) future 16 October, 2008 11:01

One of the signs of getting older is the feeling that things were better "back in the day." I've been lucky enough to avoid it, most of the time. OK, I'd like to have tasted Coca-Cola back when it had the original ingredients. And I'll admit to being a bit nostalgic for the days when you didn't have to take your shoes off to get on a plane. But overall, it strikes me things are generally better today, from medical advances that didn't exist three years ago to being able to Google on your mobile phone.
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Telecom planning in a time of turmoil 10 October, 2008 14:11

It's gotten pretty hard to miss the financial news lately: September was the worst month for stocks in years, and October looks to surpass it. Despite the US government's massive US$800-billion bailout, the US economy is still roiling, and Europe's is doing even worse.
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How IPv6 is like the US financial crisis 02 October, 2008 10:38

Not long ago, the powers-that-be detected an impending crisis. To resolve it, they rushed into action crafting a proposal that represented an unprecedented upheaval of existing infrastructure. On the grounds that "something needed to be done" to avert the crisis, they brushed aside objections that the upheaval was too convulsive and might nonetheless fail to address the underlying issues that had created the crisis in the first place.
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Residents "own" last-mile in Canadian broadband trial 14 August, 2008 11:27

You've got to hand it to the Canadians. Not only do they come up with great hockey, outstanding comedians and my friend Dave Keck (an up-and-coming science fiction writer) they've also generated one of the most innovative ideas ever for last-mile connectivity.