Tuning up the internet

An Irish company is about to hit the big time with the launch of technology the whole world has been waiting for. By John Holden.

The internet has fundamentally changed global communications. But now that it is a well-established medium in society, the flaws need to be addressed. At peak times of the day, everyone has experienced slow internet speed, particularly when trying to watch videos on YouTube or make Skype video calls. The current fibre optic networks we use are not equipped to deal with ever increasing demand.

This is the central issue: escalating demand but static supply. Until now the options were limited. The obvious suggestion was to dig up our city streets and replace existing networks with improved fibre optics technology. However, this would be very disruptive, not to mention really expensive (every kilometre of fibre would cost about 100,000 euro to replace). But through cloud computing technology, an Irish company has developed software that could deal with bottlenecks at peak times for a lot less money and without the need to tear up the ground.

Through the use of tuneable laser technology, Irish firm In Tune Networks has solved the problem. “We found a new way of using the fibre that’s already in the ground,” explains John Dunne, Co-founder of InTune Networks. “Today’s fibre optics network systems would have utilisation capacity of about five per cent. That’s because the existing architecture is very awkward and was not designed for You Tube and other online activities with high download demands. The networks are 20 years old. With a network that’s tuneable, you can convert that five per cent to 80 per cent utilisation in real time and it’s very cost effective because you’re using fibre that’s already installed.”

Essentially InTune Networks are offering pay per view internet service. So if you want to be guaranteed high quality internet while making a group video Skype call, for example, you can pay a little bit extra for the service. Or gaming enthusiasts can play high bandwidth games without any loss of quality.

The technology has already been tested in different ways. The Other Voices TV show in Dingle, Co Kerry, provided real time access to performances from Snow Patrol, Jarvis Cocker and others to venues across the town while the performances were happening in St James’ Church on the Main Street.

They officially showcased their new technology at the TM Forum Management World Conference at the Dublin Convention Centre last week (the biggest conference in the world for telecom and IT providers, with 775 member companies including BSKYB, BT and China Telecommunications). They demonstrated their software using three companies for the test: BT as the internet provider, policy and billing software from Openet, and a management system on top from Amartus. “Were giving a very specific practical way of solving the problem of bottlenecks,” says Dunne. “Other companies are offering abstract ideas as to what needs to be done, not realising that the current physical infrastructure can’t respond as is. No one but us has proposed a single slice through everything thus far and we demonstrated at the TM Forum that vertical slice from tuneable laser technology all the way up to the consumer. We got a great reaction.

“The generic un-tethered global internet is fantastic in that it’s accessible and open to everyone. It is also all encompassing in its ability to work with various different networks. However, it is also its global generic nature which blocks its development. It accepts low quality. This is the central recurring theme across the industry; that the network architectures are going to have to change.”