ETSI Group on Millimetre Wave Transmission starts work

ITRealms:

Arising from its recently meeting, the Industry Specification Group on millimetre Wave Transmission (ISG mWT) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has commenced work on developing a set of five specifications include mWT, reports ITRealms.

The group which met for the first time at ETSI between January 14 and 15, 2015, saw Mr. Renato Lombardi of Huawei Technologies, emerging as the chairman of the Industry Specification Group while Mr. Nader Zei of NEC Europe was elected as the vice chairman. 

“ISG mWT was conceived as an industry wide platform to prepare for large scale usage of millimetre wave spectrum in current and future transmission networks by improving the conditions to make millimetre wave spectrum a suitable and convenient choice for all stakeholders. The ISG aims to be a worldwide initiative with global reach and to address the whole industry: national regulators, standards organizations, telecom operators, product vendors and key component vendors.” Lombardi said in his inaugural speech.

During the meeting, a plan was agreed to develop five new specifications. These cover

·         An analysis of the maturity and field proven experience of millimetre wave transmission

·         Potential applications and use cases of millimetre wave transmission

·         An overview of V-band and E-band worldwide regulations

·         An analysis of V-band street level interference

·         Analysis of the millimetre wave semiconductor Industry technology status and evolution. 

Millimetre wave spectrum, in the 30GHz to 300GHz range, offers more available spectrum than in lower bands with larger channel bandwidths granting a fibre like capacity. The spectrum can be made available readily and can be reused easily, and lower licensing costs lead to lower total cost of ownership and lower cost per bit of radio systems.

ITRealms reports that participation in the millimetre Wave Transmission Industry Specification Group is open to all ETSI members as well as organizations who are not members, subject to signing ISG Agreements.

 

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Defence HQ website hacked, restored, fingers APC

ITRealms:

The Defence Headquarters has affirmed the hacking of its website, which has also been restored, while industry watchers are fingering sympathisers of the main opposition, the All Progressive Congress (APC), reports ITRealms.

Reports gathered by ITRealms Friday, indicated that the website, www.defenceinfo.mil.ng was hacked in the early hours of today, Friday, January, 2015.

Reacting, the Defence Headquarters’ noted though, it’s information blog site has been restored.

A press statement signed by Major General Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information, was quoted as “The site was defaced at the front end. However, the hackers could not infiltrate the database of the site.”

“Preliminary investigation shows that the attack was from the end of the site’s host. One Ima Sadiq who posed as the hacker has been knocked off and normal activities on the channel has resumed.

“Apparently, the blog site was targeted because of its role as a major channel for disseminating information on military and security activities in the nation’s counter-terrorism campaign," he said.

Just as industry watchers were awash with arguments with some insisting that the said Ima Sadiq may have hacked the defence headquarters website in sympathy to the APC who recently denied.

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NIRA refutes Gov. Fashola's claim, says APC Domain Name not shut

ITRealms:

The attention of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) has been drawn to the news making a round that the Federal Government has shut down the official website of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the "www.apc.com.ng" which is untrue and unfounded, reports ITRealms.

ITRealms recalls that Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, was reported as saying on Tuesday "the federal government has shut down the official website of the All Progressives Congress (APC), just as he unveiled the fund-raising strategy for the presidential campaign of the party." - ThisDay 21/1/2015 page 6.

ITRealms also reports that particularly, NIRA as the managers of the Nigeria's country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), the .NG under NITDA Act of 2007, is concerned that this allegation is coming from the Lagos State Governor at this time.

NIRA therefore stated unequivocally that there was no time "www.apc.com.ng" website was shut from .NG domain string, stressing that it is in the interest of Nigeria and .NG brand that NIRA continues to project the image of Nigeria always and it's on this light that NIRA wishes to clear the air on the alleged shutting down of "www.apc.com.ng."

ITRealms gathered that NIRA investigations revealed that:

"1. apc.com.ng has not been edited since 31st January 2014
2. no one in NIRA or our registrar (Web4Africa) who registered "www.apc.com.ng" received any request regarding the domain name since 17th October 2013
3. A visit to apc.com.ng out of curiosity a few days ago revealed the website as currently on display at www.apc.com.ng today 21st January 2015, is new.
4. There was a tiny text notice on the domain a few days ago that the website was down for maintenance.
5. The No. 3 above leads us to suspect the website admin must have taken the old website down and written the notice.
6. It may be obvious the web administrator may not have informed their party leaders thus the allegations."

Accordingly to NIRA President, Mrs Mary Uduma, such act as alleged by Gov. Fashola will encourage capital flight, and negates the objective of NIRA, hence NIRA cannot go against it's set guidelines to begin to shut down domain names instead of promoting .NG uptake, especially by the political class.
NIRA president said, the politicians who are embarking online campaigns should be on .ng string, which will be a show of patriotism.
She insisted there was no directive to the effect of shutting down any website on .NG let alone the one belonging to APC.

Mrs. Uduma used the opportunity to enjoin politicians to make use of .NG domain string in their online activities, as that is what will mark them out as patriotic leaders of 21st century.

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There’s no single best-fit model for multistakeholder governance groups -Study

ITRealms:

The latest study by the Global Network of Internet and Society Centers on Multistakeholder as governance groups, has revealed there is no single best-fit model for multistakeholder governance groups, reports ITRealms.

The Executive Director, Berkman Center and Harvard Law School Professor of Practice, Urs Gasser, 

who led the international effort on the study, declared to ITRealms that multistakeholder groups are at cross-road when it comes to the global governance of the Internet, where issues must not only be responded to complex technical challenges, but also deal with a broad range of policy issues ranging from cybersecurity to net neutrality and human rights.

"This collaborative research wants to strengthen the evidence-base as we search for future governance models that preserve the generativity and openness of the Internet, while also addressing pressing challenges and problems," he said.

Gasser also said that at a point where the future of Internet governance is being re-envisioned, the report deepened the understanding of the formation, operation, and critical success factors of governance groups. 

ITRealms reports that the study concluded by stated in part that:

“there is no single best-fit model for multistakeholder governance groups that can be applied in all instances. Rather, it reveals a range of approaches, mechanisms, and tools available for both the formation and operation of such groups. The analysis demonstrates that the success of governance groups depends to a large degree on the careful selection, deployment, and management of suitable instruments from this ‘toolbox’. As governance groups pass through different phases of operation, conveners and facilitators must remain alert to changes in circumstances that necessitate adjustments to the approaches, mechanisms, and tools that they deploy in order to address evolving challenges from inside and from outside. The case study series provides insights into how those instruments can be deployed and adjusted over time within such groups, and highlights how their interactions with important contextual factors may be successfully managed within given resource restraints.”

Other key observations from the study, as further described in the synthesis paper, include:

•             Inclusiveness (including mechanisms for participation) and transparency are critical factors to be managed and adjusted throughout the lifecycle of governance groups.

•             How governance groups define accountability and legitimacy is highly reflective of and dependent on contextual factors.

•             Different governance groups have different measures of success and effectiveness that are tied to their unique contexts and to factors that change over time.

The report is the first study by the recently launched Global Network of Internet and Society Centers, which brings together over 30 academic institutions from around the globe. As a milestone, it demonstrates that a global network of academic research centers can create a shared repository of timely and relevant research, which includes peer-reviewed methodologies and adherence to academic standards, open data, and expertise on diverse issues related to global policy debates.  

More broadly, the Network of Centers seeks to contribute to a more generalized vision and longer-term strategy for academia regarding its roles in research, facilitation and convening, and education in and communication about the Internet age.

Grasser was joined in the study by Ryan Budish, Harvard University - Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Sarah Myers West University of Southern California - Annenberg School for Communication.

+Remmy Nweke +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Harvard University @GNISC +“Ginger Virginia Paque – Coordinator Diplo IGCBP” +Internet Governance Project +Internet Society +Internet Governance Project 

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