Ref. Ares(2013)3009628 - 09/09/2013
WING
Watching IST Innovation and Knowledge
Framework Contract For Impact Analysis Contract No.30-CE-0029513/00-42 Funded by European Commission Information Society and Media Directorate General Specific Contract No 30-CE-0112232/00-65
Impact Analysis in the Domain of Broadband Technologies (BBT)
Final report
April 14, 2008
This report has been produced by the WING consortium with contributions from:
Gianmarco Panza, Cefriel Valérie Chaillou, IDATE Didier Pouillot, IDATE Bea Mahieu Ballero, Databank Marina Suardi, Databank Franco Morganti, Databank
The opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission
Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE BROADBAND DOMAIN ...... 13 1.1 Methodological Framework ...... 13 1.2 Structure of the Report...... 14 1.3 Broadband Domain Strategic Objectives ...... 15 1.3.1 Introduction...... 15 1.3.2 High Level Objectives of IST-RTD ...... 16 1.3.3 High Level Objectives of other EU Policies and Actions ...... 16 1.3.4 Specific Objectives of the Domain...... 17 1.3.5 Key Planned Impacts...... 19 1.4 Broadband Domain Activities ...... 20 1.4.1 Project portfolio ...... 20 1.4.2 Research sub-domains ...... 22 1.4.3 Research characteristics ...... 24 1.5 Composition Analysis ...... 26 1.5.1 Large industry players ...... 28 1.5.2 SME participation ...... 29 1.6 Overview of Domain Activities against Domain Objectives...... 30 2 SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT ...... 31 2.1 State of the Art at Beginning of Period (Start of FP5 - 1998)...... 31 2.1.1 Optical networks and related network elements ...... 31 2.1.2 Network integration ...... 34 2.1.3 Applications through seamless networks...... 36 2.1.4 Safety, security and comfort of use...... 37 2.2 State of the Art Today...... 39 2.2.1 Optical networks ...... 39 2.2.2 Network integration ...... 41 2.2.3 Applications through seamless networks...... 46 2.2.4 Safety, security and comfort of use...... 48 2.3 Likely Key Future Developments ...... 50 2.3.1 Optical networks ...... 50 2.3.2 Network integration ...... 51 2.3.3 Applications through seamless networks...... 53 2.3.4 Safety, security and comfort of use...... 55 2.4 Domain Research Activities ...... 56 2.4.1 Optical networks ...... 56 2.4.2 Network integration ...... 56 2.4.3 Applications through seamless networks...... 57 2.4.4 Safety, security and comfort of use...... 58 2.5 Key Research Actors and their Involvement in IST-RTD ...... 58 2.5.1 Telecom operators and Internet providers...... 59 2.5.2 Vendors of network solutions and systems...... 60 2.5.3 Scientific actors ...... 61 2.5.4 Standardisation bodies...... 62 3 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT...... 64 3.1 Definition of Broadband ...... 64 3.2 The Economic and Social Environment at the Beginning of FP5 ...... 64 3.2.1 Birth of Broadband commercial offers...... 64 3.2.2 Regulatory actions in favour of Broadband...... 69 3.2.3 Usage of Broadband ...... 70 3.3 The Economic and Social Environment Today...... 73 3.4 Likely Key Future Developments ...... 78 3.5 Domain Research Activities and Involvement of Key Players ...... 79 4 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACTS...... 83 4.1 Effectiveness of the Research ...... 85 4.1.1 Results at domain level ...... 85 4.1.2 Results at sub-domain level...... 87 4.2 Scientific and Technological Achievements...... 88 4.2.1 Results at domain level ...... 88 4.2.2 S&T Achievements in the sub-domains ...... 88 4.3 Research Capacity Impacts on the Participating Organisations...... 100
4.3.1 Impacts at domain level ...... 100 4.3.2 Impacts at sub-domain level ...... 102 4.3.3 European Added Value ...... 103 4.3.4 Follow-on Research...... 104 4.4 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the broader environment ...... 109 4.4.1 Impacts at domain level ...... 109 4.4.2 Impacts at sub-domain level ...... 110 4.5 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts ...... 111 4.5.1 Scientific and technological breakthroughs...... 111 4.5.2 Research capacity impacts...... 112 5 ECONOMIC IMPACTS ...... 115 5.1 Exploitation and Performance Impacts on Organisations ...... 116 5.1.1 Introduction...... 116 5.1.2 Impacts at domain level ...... 116 5.1.3 Impacts on the stakeholders...... 118 5.1.4 Impacts at sub-domain level ...... 119 5.1.5 Intellectual Property Rights...... 121 5.2 Industrial and Competitiveness Impacts at Sector Level ...... 124 5.2.1 Impacts on Market Development ...... 124 5.2.2 Creation of spin-off companies...... 126 5.3 Enabling Factors & European Added Value ...... 128 5.4 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts ...... 129 5.4.1 Exploitation and performance impacts...... 129 5.4.2 Industrial and competitiveness impacts ...... 130 6 POLICY AND REGULATION ...... 131 6.1 Impacts on Standardisation...... 131 6.1.1 Impacts at domain level ...... 132 6.1.2 Impacts at sub-domain level ...... 133 6.2 Impacts on Policy Development ...... 135 6.3 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts ...... 136 7 SOCIAL IMPACTS...... 137 8 IMPACTS ON ENVIRONMENT...... 140 9 CONCLUSIONS...... 142 9.1 The Broadband Domain...... 142 9.2 Summary of Impacts Achieved ...... 144 9.2.1 At domain level ...... 144 9.2.2 At sub-domain level ...... 146 9.3 Conclusions...... 147 9.4 Overall conclusions ...... 148 10 ANNEXES ...... 150 10.1 References ...... 150 10.2 List of Stakeholders Interviewed ...... 157 10.3 List of Projects in the Domain ...... 158 10.4 Brief Description of the Projects per Sub-domain ...... 160 10.4.1 Optical Networks...... 160 10.4.2 Network Integration ...... 164 10.4.3 Applications through seamless networks...... 168 10.4.4 Safety, security and comfort of use...... 170 10.5 Detailed Survey Results ...... 171
List of Exhibits (Includes tables and figures)
Exhibit 1 Objectives Hierarchy Model ...... 13 Exhibit 2 European Union Policy Milestones ...... 16 Exhibit 4 Number of RTD projects active along the FP5 timeline ...... 21 Exhibit 5 Allocation of RTD projects into areas of application...... 23 Exhibit 6 Distribution of the sub-domains in the project portfolio, per number of projects & funding...... 23 Exhibit 7 Nature of research – RTD projects ...... 24 Exhibit 8 Nature of research in the sub-domains – % of responses indicating high values ...... 25 Exhibit 9 Goals for participation...... 25 Exhibit 10 Goals for participation at sub-domain level...... 26 Exhibit 11 Broadband Technologies - Typologies of Participating Organisations...... 27 Exhibit 12 Share of the stakeholder groups in the research sub-domains...... 27 Exhibit 13 List of individual beneficiaries of EC funding > 1 M€ in FP5/broadband domain ...... 28 Exhibit 14 List of industrial beneficiaries of EC funding > 1 M€ in FP5/broadband domain at corporate group level...... 29 Exhibit 15 Match of Sub-domain Activities against Objectives...... 30 Exhibit 16 Optical Networks – summary table ...... 32 Exhibit 17 Network Integration – summary table...... 34 Exhibit 18 Network applications (Start of FP5) ...... 36 Exhibit 19 Service applications (Start of FP5) ...... 37 Exhibit 20 Standardisation in optical network sub-domain (Today) ...... 40 Exhibit 21 Wired technologies for Broadband Access and Short range communications (Today)...... 41 Exhibit 22 Wireless technologies (Today) ...... 43 Exhibit 23 Network applications (Today) ...... 46 Exhibit 24 Service applications (Today) ...... 47 Exhibit 25 Topics for Safety Security and Comfort of Use (Today) ...... 49 Exhibit 26 Broadband subscriber among Internet users worldwide from 1995 to 2002...... 65 Exhibit 27 Breakdown of access technologies among residential customers (at mid-2003)...... 65 Exhibit 28 Broadband subscriber bases in Western Europe, 2000-2005 ...... 68 Exhibit 29 Year of first commercial DSL offer by incumbent in main European countries...... 68 Exhibit 30 Operational and regulatory implementation of unbundling in selected European countries ...... 70 Exhibit 31 Increase of P2P usage ...... 73 Exhibit 32 P2P penetration rate amongst Broadband subscribers ...... 73 Exhibit 33 ADSL speed-distance diagram ...... 76 Exhibit 34 IPTV subscribers for selected suppliers in Europe (at mid-2007)...... 77 Exhibit 35 Top 10 countries in terms of broadband penetration, as of mid-2006...... 77 Exhibit 36 Evolution of incumbent telcos' share of their domestic broadband market...... 79 Exhibit 37 Unbundling operators' announced investments and coverage ...... 80 Exhibit 38 Maximum theoretical downstream speeds supplied by some of the leading broadband providers in Europe (mid-2006)...... 81 Exhibit 39 Major European broadband access providers – number of retail broadband customers in Europe (in millions)...... 81 Exhibit 40 Market share for DSL ports shipped by infrastructure vendors, 2004-2006...... 82 Exhibit 41 Market share for the main suppliers of optical transmission by technology in 2005...... 82 Exhibit 42 Scientific and Technological Impacts...... 83 Exhibit 43 Attainment of Expected Results – RTD projects...... 85 Exhibit 44 Value for money – RTD projects ...... 86 Exhibit 45 Lower-than-expected results per sub-domain ...... 87 Exhibit 46 Importance of the Outputs ...... 88 Exhibit 47 Outputs of high importance by sub-domain...... 89 Exhibit 48 Research topics covered by optical networks RTD projects ...... 89 Exhibit 49 LION preliminary roadmap...... 91 Exhibit 50 Research topics covered by network integration RTD projects...... 93 Exhibit 51 Research topics covered by application oriented RTD projects...... 97 Exhibit 52 Research topics covered by user oriented RTD projects ...... 99 Exhibit 53 Significance of impacts on R&D capabilities ...... 100 Exhibit 54 Trend in capacity for terrestrial optical transmission ...... 101
Exhibit 55 Significance of Network-oriented Impacts - % "(Very) High significance" responses ...... 101 Exhibit 56 IST R&D financing (in billion € for year 2000)...... 102 Exhibit 57 Significance of Knowledge-oriented Impacts on the Organisations by Sub- domain - % responses (Very) High significance...... 103 Exhibit 58 Probability of achieving same results witout EC funding...... 103 Exhibit 59 Influence of international collaboration on achievement of results...... 104 Exhibit 60 Follow-on projects...... 105 Exhibit 61 Influence of Participation on Prospects for Follow-on Projects - % responses (Very) Positive influence ...... 105 Exhibit 62 Knowledge exploitation paths ...... 106 Exhibit 63 R&D as a % of revenues of European telcos*...... 109 Exhibit 64 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the Broader Environment ...... 109 Exhibit 65 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the Broader Environment per sub-domain - % responses impacts of (very) high significance ...... 110 Exhibit 66 Outputs in detail per sub-domain - % responses 10 or more outputs...... 111 Exhibit 67 Significance of scientific and technological achievements for potential impacts in each sub-domain ...... 112 Exhibit 68 Transience of the impacts...... 113 Exhibit 69 Economic Impacts...... 115 Exhibit 70 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation – RTD projects ...... 117 Exhibit 71 Impacts in 2007...... 117 Exhibit 72 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation per Stakeholder – % responses impacts of (very) high significance ...... 118 Exhibit 73 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation per sub-domain - % responses of (very) high significance ...... 119 Exhibit 74 Importance of the outputs by sub-domain - % responses (very) High Importance ...... 122 Exhibit 75 Number of applications for patents, trademarks, registered designs etc. by sub- domain ...... 122 Exhibit 76 Number of IPR applications per typology of organisation...... 123 Exhibit 77 Significance of Industrial & Competitiveness Impacts on the Broader Environment ...... 124 Exhibit 78 Impacts on the development of new and existing markets – per sub-domain...... 124 Exhibit 79 Impacts on the development of new and existing markets – business/industry stakeholders...... 125 Exhibit 80 Significance of impacts on the course of developments in technology/product areas ...... 126 Exhibit 81 Projects/organisations having led to a spin off ...... 127 Exhibit 82 Probability of achieving same results in the economic sphere without EC funding ...... 128 Exhibit 83 Influence of International Collaboration on the Achievement of the Results in the Economic Sphere...... 128 Exhibit 84 Exploitation and performance impacts in each sub-domain...... 130 Exhibit 85 Significance of Policy & Regulation impacts on the Broader Environment – RTD projects ...... 132 Exhibit 86 Impacts on the development of new and existing standards – 11 Domains RTD projects ...... 132 Exhibit 87 Impacts on standardisation – key projects ...... 133 Exhibit 88 Impacts on Policy Development per sub-domain...... 135 Exhibit 89 Significance of Impacts in the Social Sphere – RTD projects ...... 137 Exhibit 90 Significance of Social Impacts on the Broader Environment by sub-domain - % responses impacts of moderate and (very) high significance...... 138 Exhibit 91 Significance of Environmental Impacts ...... 140 Exhibit 92 Impacts on Environment per sub-domain - % responses impacts of moderate to (very) high significance ...... 140
Impact Analysis in the Domain of BBT Final report – April 14, 2008
Executive Summary
This report presents the findings of the Wing Impact study for impact analysis in the IST domain of Broadband Technologies. The purpose of the study was to carry out an analysis of the impacts originating from research activities in the broadband domain and funded under the Information Society Technologies (IST) Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development during the period 1999-2005. The study was based upon the methodological framework that was developed for all studies under the WING Framework Contract. This methodology is briefly presented in the introduction to this report.
To set the framework for the impact analysis, the report begins with an introduction to the IST broadband domain (Section 1), describing the research objectives and planned impacts, outlining the domain activities, providing a brief composition analysis, and presenting a comparison of domain activities against domain objectives. In Sections 2 and 3, the contexts for the scientific and technological and socio-economic objectives areas are described, and the specific place of FP5 IST research in this domain is assessed. The detailed impact analysis is presented in Sections 4 to 8. Finally, in Section 9, a concluding overview of the impact analysis is provided.
The projects in this domain mainly responded to the IST Key Action IV “Essential Information Society Technologies and Infrastructures", aiming at " promot[ing] excellence in the technologies which are crucial to the Information Society, to accelerate their take-up and broaden their field of application. The work will address the convergence of information processing, communications and networking technologies and infrastructures. The focus will be on technologies and infrastructures common to several applications, while those specific to one application only would be addressed in the context of that application in other parts of the Framework Programme.”. More specifically, most projects were dedicated to the Action Line IV.2 "Technologies for and the management of information processing, communications and networks, including broadband, together with their implementation, interoperability and application".
Under the Fifth Framework programme, the European Commission DG Information Society funded 55 projects in the broadband domain; the project portfolio included 51 shared-cost research projects (further on ‘RTD’). The EC funding for these projects was 152.6 M Euro, of which 148 M Euro for the RTD projects.
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Major achievements of the research activities in the different impact categories were:
Scientific & Technological Impacts • Significant scientific and technological breakthroughs could occur with the support of FP5 projects. In particular, developments regarding 40 Gbps links (multiplexed to provide capacity over 1 Tbps) and IPv6 technologies but also support technologies (e.g. languages) could clearly benefit from results derived from those projects. • Developments initiated through FP5 in the broadband area could contribute to maintain or reposition European technological community (industry as well as public research) at a high level on the world scene, at a time when, in optical technologies notably, both Japan and the USA seemed to have gained some advance over Europe. • Research projects in the broadband domain could serve as a basis for follow-on research, through manufacturers' further internal projects but also through continued cooperative work. Several research projects in FP6, Networks of Excellence and national initiatives could directly appear as a continuation of work initiated in the FP5 projects.
Economic impacts • Several projects could lead to effective and marketed solutions, despite adverse market trends following the internet bubble burst. It could lead to complete solution developments (new technical platforms, new applications) or contribute to improvements in existing solutions notably with regards to quality of service issues. • Most industrial groups participating in FP5 broadband programme could use project outputs for further internal developments, leading in particular to IPR applications: one respondent out of 3 in the survey declared that IPR applications presented by their organisations in this domain coud be derived from FP5 research activities. • Impacts in terms of industry structure and performance could be measured with regards to significant market inroads of European players in various segments, from transport and access technologies (e.g. PON) to applications and services (e.g. IPTV). Furthermore, several spin offs were created in the course of projects or just after projects completion to exploit results commercially.
Impacts on Policy and Regulation • 30% of the respondents in the survey indicated to have set up during their project an intense collaboration with standardisation bodies. We could find evidence of contributions to standards by some large projects (LION, CADENUS, Euro6IX, WINMAN…); in most cases however, contributions took the form of documented technical papers and participations in fora.
Social impacts • Supporting new technologies and services to improve both the quantity and the quality of exchanges of information, project outputs could have positive effects on knowledge in the society at large, notably in the sphere of education and
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educational developments, and on quality of life, through outputs serving more secure and easy-to-use applications. • Furthermore, technological advances in the field of broadband can be expected to have longer-term indirect impacts on the social environment. Improved broadband connections, at higher speed and lower cost as well as enabling integration and convergence with other networks and technologies, in fact, form the backbone for an augmented availability of e-services, an improved sharing of knowledge and information, an enhanced safety, and ultimately, a reduction of the social and regional digital divides.
Impacts on environment • Finally, impacts on environment could be measured through some "indirect" effects of the research results, in particular on recycling issues and on a more sustainable management of natural resources (e.g. advantages of PON technology vs VDSL). • Most importantly, however, high benefits for an improved management of environmental hazards and emergencies can be expected from the advances in broadband technologies and network convergence.
For the purpose of this study, the projects were grouped into four sub-domains: • Optical networks, to design next generation network technologies, with the associated protocols and signalling mechanisms to allow end-to-end optical transmission across core and access networks, • Network integration, with research aiming at developing solutions for ensuring interoperability between existing and NGN technologies, backbone and access, fixed and mobile, etc. • Applications through seamless networks, with core objective to provide technical solutions capable of delivering the same kind of services to subscriber, utilizing different technologies in a transparent way, • Safety, security and comfort of use, with projects dedicated to securing applications and services in order to guarantee user's confidence.
The conclusions at sub-domain level were as follows:
Optical Networks Research projects in the Optical networks sub-domain could lead to significant impacts for both scientific and technological issues and economic issues: • Scientific and technological issues: - significant ouputs, especially in terms of concrete support for new technical solutions or research platforms ("prototypes, demonstrators and pilots", "new research tools and techniques"), e.g. LION (feasibility of interworking between the optical and IP layers), - both mid-term exploitation and follow on research, e. g. DAVID (solutions for mid term implementation of Packet-over-WDM transmission), - exploratory research/intensive know-how transfer to the S&T community, notably through a large number of publications during the projects; • Economic issues: - impacts mainly on commercial performance (reputation and image) and strategy (entry into new areas), - industrial impacts in the medium long term in line with expectations,
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- IPR applications by 1 out of 4 participants.
Network integration Research projects in the Network integration sub-domain could also lead to significant impacts through different levels of contribution: • Scientific and technological issues: - close-to-market outputs, especially Quality of Service, voice-data integration, packet and circuit-switching integration (gateways), integration of wired and wireless technologies at IP level, IPv6, new technologies to bridge the “digital divide” (PLC, Wireless, etc.), e.g. WINMAN (effective and viable solution to introduce IP over WDM), - often dedicated to internal use to improve productivity and/or to provide improved services, e.g. Euro6IX (development of a GIX based on IPv6 to interconnect IP networks of participating operators and experiment new services); • Economic issues: - mainly intangible impacts in the short term, - innovation in telcos and ISPs infrastructure leading to improved services to end users and improved competitive positioning.
Applications through seamless networks Main impacts in the Applications through seamless networks sub-domain were: • Scientific and technological issues: - significant development of “new research tools and techniques”, e.g. MESCAL which contributed to a lot of publications and concrete solutions to support further developments (inter-domain QoS across the Internet), - specifications as a basis for state of the art (“IETF”), e.g. CADENUS, - results in end-to-end QoS issues, SLA support, mobility management, horizontal/vertical handover, traffic engineering to be implemented afterwards in proprietary solutions, e.g. ProxiTV providing an ad hoc solution used by Telekom Austria for its IPTV service; • Economic issues: - evidence of concrete exploitation of research results, - service support anywhere at anytime, - high impact on market developments (1 in 3 respondents), - delivery of new products, processes or services, e.g. ProxiTV used in particular by Telekom Austria when launching IPTV services or SCAMPI, the Internet traffic monitoring and measurement solution, now operated commercially.
Safety, security and comfort of use Main impacts in the Safety, security and comfort of use sub-domain were: • Scientific and technological issues: - closer-to-market outputs with significant outputs in terms of innovative or new "operational systems" (products or services), - improvements of support technologies or software, e.g. DRIVE (dynamic radio for IP services in vehicular environment) or INTERVAL (timed extension to specifications and description language - SDL); • Economic issues: - little significant direct economic impact,
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- potential indirect impact through use of project outputs in other products/solutions. Final conclusions at Domain level were:
Contributing to European excellence in research in broadband technologies The research activities in this domain strongly promoted Scientific and Technological excellence in broadband technologies: • The overall majority of the projects successfully completed their work programme and reached expected results, especially in terms of effects on R&D capabilities: - through the creation and consolidation of cooperative networks in Europe and beyond (extensions to the US and Japanese communities), - through complementary national initiatives and follow on in-house R&D programmes; • The IST research activities in the broadband domain substantially contributed to the enhancement of skills and competences in the scientific and technological community at large; • Cooperation and public dissemination of information could help participants to identify promising topics and potential partners: - for research companies to get contracts with the industry, - for large companies to leverage their research internal efforts, - for SMEs to focus on innovative processes.
Creating critical value for Europe to maintain technological competitiveness IST funded research in the broadband domain acted as a driver for an enhanced competitiveness of the European industry in broadband technologies: • Industry/business stakeholders of the projects could draw benefit of the research activities mainly on reputation and image, more largely on commercial issues (enlargement of their products/services portfolio, enter new areas, access to new markets) and therefore on competitive position; • During the period from end of FP5 up to now, they could capitalise on first research results and go beyond through in-house continued projects or through joint follow on research or contracts with universities or public centres: - industry leaders could gain strong expertise in optical technologies which is now very valuable (e.g. Alcatel in PON technology), - spin offs could emerge to exploit innovative products or processes (e.g. INVEA-TECH in the Czech Republic).
Bridging the digital divide and improving quality of life By achieving significant technological advances in the broadband domain, leading to broadband access at lower costs, integrated technologies and ever-more converged networks, the IST-funded research indirectly contributed to the enhancement of the quality of life for European citizen and the reduction of social and regional barriers to information and knowledge exchange.
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Overall conclusions The research projects in the broadband domain, funded under FP5, contributed effectively both to the (re)positioning of the European research community at international level in this area and to an enhanced competitiveness of the European industry. In fact, the timescale and focus of the FP5 projects were in line with the international research activities. They addressed most topics of the technological roadmap, ranging from very high speed transmission/switching in the transport network to the (IP) interconnection of various access technologies. At industrial level, the EC-funded research activities represented a unique opportunity for vendors to successfully develop and experiment new technologies for next generation networks. Furthermore, they facilitated a crucial innovation of the product/service offer by the major European operators and service providers thanks to the implementation of solutions or parts of the solutions that were developed in these projects in the organisations’ own networks and offers. In this context it needs to be taken into account that the "internet bubble burst" occurred just in the middle of the FP5 4-year plan, leading to financial restrictions among the players, especially regarding investments. Finally, the high value of the research results is evident also from its level of transience: most of the research outputs are still valid today or were pursued through follow on research and a more large-scale implementation can be expected in the first coming years (e.g. 40 Gbps links, IPv6, …).
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1 Introduction to the Broadband Domain
The purpose of the study was to carry out an analysis of the impacts originating from the research activities in the domain of Broadband Technologies and funded under the Information Society Technologies Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development during the period 1999-2005. The area analysed corresponded mainly to Action Line IV.2 of the four FP5 Workprogrammes (1999 to 2002) under Key action IV (“Essential Technologies and Infrastructures”) of the Thematic IST Programme (“User-friendly Information Society”).
1.1 Methodological Framework
The Methodological Framework, developed for all studies funded under the WING Framework Contract for Impact Analysis, structured the impact analysis around the concept of the Objectives Hierarchy Model (see Exhibit 1).
This model illustrates the intervention logic that lies at the base of the public funding of research in the domain and pictures the interconnection between the main levels of objectives and their results in terms of Outputs and Outcomes or Planned impacts.
Exhibit 1 Objectives Hierarchy Model
High-Level High-Level EU objectives Objectives Objectives
High-Level FP5 Programme Domain Specific Long-Term Impacts Objectives objectives Objectives
High-Level IST KA IV Domain Operational Short-to-medium Objectives objectives Objectives Term Impacts
Projects & Activities Projects & Activities Achievements
The first level of this model consists of the Domain’s Operational Objectives; these objectives are defined in the specific workprogrammes of the domain and the action calls. The achievement of these objectives in terms of Outputs and Outcomes is expected to lead to the attainment of planned Short-to-medium Term Impacts; these impacts should, in turn, contribute to the achievement of the planned Long-Term Impacts, which are typically related to the High-Level Objectives.
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Success in reaching these impacts is dependent –also- on a variety of external factors that are beyond the control of research activities.
A first step in the impact analysis consisted in the definition of the Objectives Hierarchy for the IST Broadband domain, based upon a thorough analysis of the domain research activities; objectives as well as planned impacts were defined at each level of the hierarchy. The planned impacts were categorised into 4 groupings (Scientific and Technological, Economic, Policy and regulatory, and Social). The second phase consisted in the collection of impact evidence and context information. The Scientific and Technological as well as the Socio-economic Contexts were analysed and the position of the EU-funded research within those contexts was defined. Contemporaneously, a questionnaire survey was conducted targeting all participants to the domain research activities. In total, 89 questionnaires were returned by a representative set of 20% of the participants, ‘covering’ 82% of the RTD projects in this domain. After an analysis of this first wave of input, 21 key stakeholders were interviewed (see Annex 2 to this report). In the final phase, conclusions on impacts were drawn based on all collected evidence.
1.2 Structure of the Report
The structure of this report reflects the methodological approach to this impact analysis: • In order to set the scene for this impact analysis, the rest of this introduction describes the research objectives and planned impacts to be achieved for the IST Broadband domain during FP5, outlines the domain activities, provides a brief composition analysis, and presents a comparison of domain activities against domain objectives. • In sections 2 and 3, the contexts for the scientific and technological as well as economic, policy, and social objectives areas are outlined, and the specific place of FP5 IST research is assessed. • The detailed impact analysis is presented in sections 4 to 8; in these sections the findings on achieved Outputs and Outcomes lead to conclusions on the attainment of the Domain Operational Objectives or Short-to medium Term Impacts. • Finally, in section 9, a concluding overview draws together the main conclusions and assesses to what extent the research activities contributed to the attainment of the Domain Specific Objectives or Long-Term Impacts.
The annexes to this report are: • Annex 1: References • Annex 2: List of stakeholders interviewed • Annex 3: List of projects in the domain (with indication of number of respondents to the survey per project) • Annex 4: Brief description of the projects per sub-domain • Annex 5: Detailed Survey Results – separate report
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1.3 Broadband Domain Strategic Objectives
1.3.1 Introduction In the late 1990s, the advancement of the broadband technologies was considered one of the cornerstones for the realisation of the strategic objective to build the European Information Society.
Broadband connectivity is, in fact, a key component in ICT development, adoption and use: high-speed and permanent connections ("broadband") allow for widespread access to new services and applications, contemporaneously stimulating the development of innovative content and applications and providing new options for an enhancement of the quality of services delivered. Distance education (using e-learning), access to government services (e-government), healthcare (e-health), entertainment, videoconferencing, e-commerce, etc. become more practical and often feasible only through the high speed provided by broadband access. Furthermore, a choice of platforms provides citizens with more convenient and interactive access to e- government, e-health, e-learning, e-commerce etc, facilitates their rapid take up, contributes to social inclusion, fosters innovation, offers freedom of choice and enhances competition. In addition, broadband access can serve the industry's needs to change their organisation ("extended" enterprise, "virtual" enterprise, etc.) and improve both competitiveness and productivity.
In its report “Broadband Driving Growth: Policy responses”1, the OECD worded it as follows: “Broadband networks are an important platform for the development of knowledge- based global, national, regional, and local economies. For the private sector, broadband is an enabler of e-business and new market opportunities, allowing firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to realise growth through productivity increases stemming from improved information exchange, value chain transformation, and process efficiency. Broadband can improve the efficiency, availability and reach of public sector services in areas of high government interest, such as health, education and government services, and have important demonstration effects in other economic sectors. For consumers, broadband can enhance the quality of life through economic, social and cultural, development. For small, rural and remote communities it can be an enabler for economic and social inclusion; especially, it can facilitate access to new and advanced goods and services, as well as opportunities to participate in the digital economy and information society."
The broadband and third generation mobile networks were therefore expected to constitute a critical push element for the development of new content, applications and services. It needs to be mentioned here, though, that the rollout and deployment of these networks depended to a large extent on the development and availability of attractive content, applications and services meant for Internet distribution and requiring high-speed connections.
1 "Broadband Driving Growth: Policy Responses", Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Committee for Information, Computer & Communications Policy, OECD, 2003
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1.3.2 High Level Objectives of IST-RTD It was the overall strategic objective of the FP5 IST programme to “realise the benefits of the information society for Europe both by accelerating its emergence and by ensuring that the needs of individuals and enterprises are met” [1999/168/EC]. In particular, the Key Action IV “Essential Technologies and Infrastructures” 1999 Workprogramme quoted: “The aim of this work is to promote excellence in the technologies which are crucial to the Information Society, to accelerate their take-up and broaden their field of application. The work will address the convergence of information processing, communications and networking technologies and infrastructures. The focus will be on technologies and infrastructures common to several applications, while those specific to one application only would be addressed in the context of that application in other parts of the Framework Programme.”
1.3.3 High Level Objectives of other EU Policies and Actions The objectives of the IST programme, however, have to be articulated and set within the context of other, higher level policy goals (e.g. the Lisbon goals).
In the framework of this study, it is equally important to take into account the evolution of the priorities set out in the various policy initiatives. The exhibit below illustrates the main EU policy milestones affecting the broadband domain; these policies are described below.
Exhibit 2 European Union Policy Milestones
1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2005
Fifth Framework Programme
Green Paper First EU Launch eEurope Lisbon Gothenburg eEurope I2010 on Innovation Innovation of FP5 Initiative Council & Summit 2005 Initiative Action Plan eEurope Action Plan 2002 Action
Source: WING Impact Study, First Aggregate report, 2008
The 2000 European Council in Lisbon set out a ten-year plan, the eEurope initiative ("An Information Society for All") then i2010 ("A European Information Society for growth and employment"), to “bring everyone in Europe – every citizen every school, every company – online as quickly as possible”.
Based on the ground, particularly experienced in the United States, that new technologies can drive growth and create jobs, this initiative aimed at accelerating the move of Europe into the digital age. Up until the late 90's, the uptake of the Internet in Europe has been relatively slow; therefore, the various action lines of eEurope 2002 were focused on favouring Internet access and usage, grouped into 3 clusters: • A cheaper, faster, secure Internet: Cheaper and faster Internet access, Faster Internet for researchers and students, Secure networks and smart cards,
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• Investing in people and skills: European youth into the digital age, Working in the knowledge-based economy, Participation for all in the knowledge-based economy, • Stimulate the use of the Internet: Accelerating e-commerce, Government online- electronic access to public services, Health online, European digital content for global networks.
Policy initiatives, however, gradually shifted their attention from ‘pure’ Internet connectivity to an enhanced availability of high quality infrastructures and attractive services in order to support use of ICT. The needed convergence of network technologies and infrastructures, broadcasting and multimedia content came predominantly on the foreground; broadband technologies and multimedia content were increasingly considered to be fundamental drivers for the achievement of the EU policy goal to reach a knowledge-based, inclusive society. This concept was officially set out in the subsequent policy initiatives such as the eEurope 2005 Action Plan. Finally, bridging the broadband gap is part of the 3 main policy priorities restated in the i2010 initiative.
The yearly work programmes defined for the IST Thematic Priority during FP5 quite reflected the evolution in the higher-level strategic objectives set out in the various policy initiatives described above. In line with the policy priorities of the Lisbon strategy, for example, the IST Advisory Group developed at the end of 1999 a vision statement. The vision was to: "Start creating the ambient intelligence landscape for seamless delivery of services and applications in Europe relying also upon test beds and open source software, develop user-friendliness, and develop and converge the networking infrastructure in Europe to world-class". In its recommendation for the IST work programme for 2001 and beyond2, the ISTAG therefore called for more longer- term research, and especially in the key technology areas ‘embedded intelligence’, ‘IP mobile and Wireless’, ‘micro- and opto-electronics’, ‘trust & confidence’, and ‘multi- modal and adaptive interfaces’. These recommendations influenced the work programmes as of the second half of the year 2000.
Section 3.2.3 provides a more detailed background on these policy objectives.
1.3.4 Specific Objectives of the Domain The basic objective of the research in this field funded under FP5 was to deliver increasingly larger capacities to end users for their communication needs. Optical technologies constituted the core of these developments, but these new technologies needed to articulate with existing ones to make heterogeneous networks interoperate, to support applications already running over existing networks and platforms, and to guarantee that those applications can be as secure and safe as they were before.
The specific objectives were mainly formulated in Action Line IV.2 "Technologies for and the management of information processing, communications and networks, including broadband, together with their implementation, interoperability and application" in the various versions of the IST Workprogrammes during FP5.
2 “Recommendations of the IST Advisory Group for Workprogramme 2001 and beyond - Implementing the vision", European Commission, 2000
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The main challenges regarding broadband technologies, stipulated for FP5 in the IST Programme, can be summarised as follows: • The need to deliver increasingly larger capacities to end users (both fixed and mobile) for marginal increases in cost; • The need to support seamless services; • The need to consolidate network protocols; • The need to support Quality of Service (QoS) for real-time services.
The objectives for the research to be conducted in this domain were therefore: • To assess, compare and improve the performance, systems applicability and interoperability of optical networking equipment; • To develop high capacity, fully interoperable information infrastructure driven by requirements from fully distributed and shared applications; • To enable inter-working of applications in an adaptive and scalable infrastructure.
More specifically this regarded the following major objective categories:
Scientific & technological objectives • To enable integration at the transport level of multiple heterogeneous networks, and component and system interoperability by developing the next generation network technologies (including switches, routers, modems and access devices), with the associated protocols and signalling mechanisms; • To develop and demonstrate technologies and architectures for all optical networks, which will allow end-to-end optical transmission across core and access networks, with transparent conversion of information between the optical and electrical domains; • To exploit advances in optical signal processing, transmission, switching and routing and further develop technologies and architectures for managed all-optical core/metropolitan networks, thus developing terabit capacity optical packet network nodes, suitable for inter-working in multi-protocol networks (including Internet Protocol (IP)-on-WDM networks), services and applications; • To develop the management interfaces for optical network nodes, and their integration with the overall network management; • To solve the vulnerabilities of large-scale multi-jurisdictional and unbounded systems through the development and validation of innovative paradigms (like leveraging and exploiting advanced simulation) and technologies.
Economic objectives • To enable seamless integration of competitive access technologies with existing fixed infrastructure and/or by making use of innovative types of terminals thanks to large scale experimentation with middleware and end to end applications; • To promote the rapid deployment and integration of competitive access technologies and their seamless integration with existing fixed infrastructure, through validation and demonstration in realistic settings by supporting the use of test-beds.
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Policy & regulation objectives • To support network inter-working at the management and service platform levels, to increase intelligence, capacity, flexibility and functionality; • To develop and assess models, technologies and tools for the seamless and ubiquitous sharing and interactive use of applications and resources in geographically dispersed locations, in the context of heterogeneous hardware, software and communications architectures and systems; • To allow open seamless access to new, affordable, scalable, personalised and interactive services over a range of heterogeneous access networks (terrestrial and satellite, mobile and fixed, wireless and wire based, symmetric and asymmetric, public and private); • To increase network agility and functionality, and to support service inter- working and management; • To increase the bandwidth capacity, Quality of Service and functionality of communications networks, and to support seamless interoperability among heterogeneous networks (including access networks and LANs).
Social objectives • To ensure affordable access to nomadic multimedia services for all through the development of new service independent architectures and systems; • To develop technologies and tools for the integration of applications and synergetic bundles of services in a coherent way and to demonstrate and quantify their value to citizens and in businesses; • To improve safety, security, comfort and efficiency in all modes of passenger and freight transport and to improve mobility management, through more interaction between in-vehicle systems and infrastructure systems (transport, communication, navigation etc.).
1.3.5 Key Planned Impacts Planned impacts are presented and described at the beginning of each of the four main impact analysis parts of this report (sections 4 to 7). In these four sections, the actual impacts achieved will be presented and analysed. Actual and planned impacts will then be compared in detail and a preliminary assessment made of the success or otherwise of FP5 research projects in the domain of Broadband Technologies. A concluding impact analysis comparing all four objectives areas will then be undertaken in section 8 of this report.
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1.4 Broadband Domain Activities
Under FP5, the research activities on Broadband Technologies were funded in the Key Action IV “Essential Technologies and Infrastructures” and were a critical part of the research, throughout the IST FP5 programme, on Communication and Network Technologies.
Related action lines (Unit IV.2) were broken down as follows in the FP5 workprogrammes: • "All optical and terabit networks" focused on optical signal processing, dense wavelength multiplexing; switching and routing, operation and management which support terabit capacity and beyond in the core network; • "Network integration, interoperability and inter-working" to enable integration at the transport level of heterogeneous networks, and component and system interoperability; • "Technologies for network management and service-level inter-working" to develop new open network management and service architectures, providing a framework for the convergence of network and broadcast services and technologies in multi-domain environments; • "Concurrent systems" to develop and assess models for the seamless and ubiquitous sharing and interactive use of applications and resources in geographically dispersed locations, in the context of heterogeneous hardware, software and communication architectures and systems.
In the mobile environment, the action line "Mobile and personal communications and systems" focused on the move to an integrated seamless network that ensures global personal connectivity and enables access to broadband wireless multimedia communications and services by anyone, from anywhere, at any time. Research priorities therefore included: • Distributed systems and services provision: to develop environments to support distributed applications; • Network integration, interoperability and inter-working: to provide broadband services to the end user; • Terabit core networks: to develop all-optical core/metropolitan networks; and • Take-up measures: to accelerate the take-up of enabling technologies which form the foundations of the information society.
1.4.1 Project portfolio Under the Fifth Framework programme, the European Commission DG Information Society funded 55 projects in the broadband domain. The project portfolio included 51 cost-shared projects (‘RTD’ projects) and 4 non cost-shared projects (‘non-RTD’ projects). The total EC funding amounted at 152.6 M Euro, i.e. 148 M Euro taken up by the RTD projects and 4.6 M Euro by the non-RTD ones.
Within the project portfolio, three major sub-programmes were identified: • The ‘cluster’ of projects responding to the KA Unit IV.2 “Computing, communications and networks”, (39 projects); • Projects responding to other Units of KA IV, 2 of them dedicated to Unit IV.5 "Mobile and personal communications and systems, including satellite related
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systems and services ", 1 to Unit IV.6 "Interfaces making use of the various senses" and another one to Unit IV.1 "Work spanning Key Action IV"; • Projects responding to the KA Unit V. CPA, 4 of them devoted to "Integrated applications platforms and services" and another one to "Large scale systems survivability" (4 RTD projects and 1 non-RTD). The remaining 7 projects belong to various other Action Lines.
The 51 RTD projects conducted research covering the various ‘themes’ specified above. However, some sub-issues have been more particularly investigated in each of them. For instance, the "all optical and terabit networks" theme was mainly covered by projects dealing with transmission technologies (WDM -Wavelength Division Multiplexing- and OTDM – Optical Time Division Multiplexing.). The "Mobile and personal communications and systems" mainly focused on satellite-based solutions. More in line with the broadband domain, projects within the "concurrent systems" theme were based on communication issues as we can imagine that other projects regarding hardware and software issues were grouped in a separate domain.
The 4 non-RTD projects included: • 3 Thematic Networks (or Research Networking), designed to support the use of advanced test for projects experimentation for validating next generation communications and networking, and applications and services, • 1 Accompanying Measure which, in practice, also aimed at providing a test bed for IST projects.
More than half of projects (37 out of 55) were selected through the 1999 call for tender ; most of them (36, of which 1 non-RTD project) could start in 2000 and concluded their research in 2002 and 2003. Only 14 projects were still active at the beginning of 2004, the last 2 projects ending in summer 2005.
Exhibit 3 Number of RTD projects active along the FP5 timeline
Number of RTD projects of the broadband domain active along the FP5 timeline
45 41
40 36 35 34 35 31
30 26
25
18 20 17 15 15 10 10 7
5 2
0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Source: EC FP5 database
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1.4.2 Research sub-domains IST-funded research in the broadband domain covered a broad range of technologies, targeted various user groups, and included short as well as long term research with different times to market. For the purpose of this impact analysis, the research projects were grouped into ‘research sub-domains’, based upon the characteristics of their outputs and the possible use of these research results by the different user categories.
Exhibit 4 provides the list of projects in this Domain with an allocation into the different research sub-domains:
1. Optical Networks: the projects within this category designed next generation network technologies, with the associated protocols and signalling mechanisms. Those various elements were intended to allow end-to-end optical transmission across core and access networks, with transparent conversion of information between the optical and electrical domains.
2. Network Integration: research in this category aimed at the development of solutions to ensure interoperability between existing and NGN technologies, backbone and access, fixed and mobile… Existing technologies were various and projects could be devoted to one of them or to one "family" (e.g. cellular technologies) in particular.
3. Applications through seamless networks: the projects within this category had as core objective to provide technical solutions for the delivery of services utilizing different technologies in a transparent way. Also projects focusing on service quality management were included in this category;
4. Safety, security and comfort of use: the projects in this category aimed at securing applications and services in order to guarantee consumer's confidence, taking into consideration the user's point of view and the risks associated with the implementation of new technologies.
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Exhibit 4 Allocation of RTD projects3 into areas of application
Applications through Safety, Security & Comfort Optical Networks Network Integration seamless networks of use ATLAS 6HOP CADENUS DEPAUDE CAPRICORN 6INIT HASvideo E-MERGE DAVID 6POWER IASON FORM ESTA ANDROID INTERNODE INTERVAL FASHION AQUILA M3I MAGIC HARMONICS BASS MANTRIP SIRLAN LION BRAHMS MESCAL TORRENT METEOR CASSIC MOEBIUS STOLAS DRIVE PROXITV TOPRATE Euro6IX QOSIPS FAIN SCAMPI GCAP TEQUILA GEOCAST GNIUS InHoMNet NETGATE PALAS SHUFFLE SUITED Video Gateway WINE WINMAN Source: EC FP5 database
Network integration was the most important sub-domain; it took up 42% of the RTD projects and 44% of the EC funding, while optical networks was the second most important sub-domain.
Exhibit 5 Distribution of the sub-domains in the project portfolio, per number of projects & funding
Distribution of the Sub-domains in the project Distribution of the EC Funding over the sub- portfolio (base: 51 RTD projects) domains (base: 147.6 M Euro)
Applications Applications Safety, Safety, through through Security & Security & seamless seamless Comfort of Comfort of netw orks networks use use 20% 24% 14% 11%
Optical Networks Optical 25% Networks Network 20% Network Integration Integration 44% 42%
Source: EC FP5 database
3 The 4 non-RTD projects (OPTIMIST, NGN-Initiative, NGN Lab, ATS-Network) were not dispatched
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1.4.3 Research characteristics One of the components of the methodological framework for this impact analysis was a questionnaire survey to all participants in the RTD projects. The goal of this survey was to collect the participants’ views on the results of the research activities and impacts achieved.4 Exhibit 6 illustrates the description of the nature of the research as provided by the survey respondents. It shows that the major characteristic of the research was the high level of technical complexity; the overall majority of respondents also indicated high strategic importance of their research results for society as a whole and for their organisations.
Exhibit 6 Nature of research – RTD projects
Nature of Research (Base: 89 respondents)
High to Low Technical Complexity 74% 17% 2%
High to Low Strategic Importance for Society 62% 28% 3%
Applied to Basic Research 58% 26% 8% High to Low Strategic Importance for the 57% 28% 6% Org. Core to Peripheral R&D Area for the Org. 57% 25% 10%
High to Low Technical Risk 44% 34% 16%
Long-term to Short-term Nature of Research 36% 54% 4%
High to Low Commercial Risk 34% 24% 20%
High to Low Cost 19% 55% 15%
0% 50% 100% (Very) High Average (Very) Low
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband technologies, 2007
The survey respondents indicated highly variegating characteristics of the research activities in the different sub-domains, especially in relation to the level of technical and commercial risk and the length of the research (see Exhibit 7): • Research activities in the Optical Networks sub-domain were predominantly long-term and of high technical risk; • Research in the Network Integration sub-domain was highly varied in terms of technical risk and showed a mixed profile also in terms of commercial risk; the research activities were of mid- to long-term duration; • Also research in the Applications through Seamless Networks showed a highly variegated profile in terms of commercial risk, whereas the technical risk was overall considered high; the research was of mid- to long-term duration; • Finally, research in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use sub-domain was considered overall of moderate technical but high commercial risk and of mid- term duration.
4 A statistically representative sample of 20% of the participants in the cost-shared research projects responded to this questionnaire
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Exhibit 7 Nature of research in the sub-domains – % of responses indicating high values
High to Low High to Low Long-term to Short-term
Technical Risk Commercial Risk Nature of Research
(Very) High 75% 33% 63% Optical Networks (base: 24 resp.) Average 13% 33% 38% (Very) Low 13% 4% (Very) High 29% 31% 31% Network Integration (base: 35 Average resp.) 34% 14% 51% (Very) Low 26% 34% 9% (Very) High 53% 27% 40% Applications through seamless Average networks (base: 15 resp.) 33% 27% 53% (Very) Low 7% 20% (Very) High 20% 47% Safety, Security & Comfort of use Average (base: 15 resp.) 67% 27% 87% (Very) Low 7% 13% 7%
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband technologies, 2007
As is illustrated in Exhibit 8, respondents declared that their goals for participation in the research were mainly in the scientific and technological sphere. One in 5 respondents mentioned also commercial and economic goals as important or very important. Other issues seemed to be less important (policy-oriented goals, social goals) or not important at all (environmental goals).
Exhibit 8 Goals for participation
Goal Importance (Base: 89 respondents)
Scientific and technological goals 66% 8%3%
Commercial and economic goals 22% 29% 24%
Policy-oriented goals 12% 18% 39%
Social goals 11% 17% 42%
Environmental goals 1%11% 52%
Other goals 1%6%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High importance Moderate importance Low/ No importance
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband technologies, 2007
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Also in this case, differences among sub-domains were to be noticed – see Exhibit 9: • Scientific and technological goals were highly important for participants in Optical Networks research; • Stakeholders involved in the Network Integration sub-domain attributed mixed levels of importance to S&T as well as commercial goals, in line with the mixed profile of the research activities in this sub-domain; • Participants in the Applications through Seamless Networks sub-domain were driven by scientific and technological goals and attributed various levels of importance to commercial goals; • Stakeholders involved in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use sub-domain were especially driven by goals in the economic/commercial and social sphere.
Exhibit 9 Goals for participation at sub-domain level
Commercial Policy- Social Environmental S&T goals & economic oriented goals goals
(Very) High 79% 13% 8% 4% Optical Networks Moderate 33% 13% 21% 8% (base: 24 resp.) Low/ No importance 33% 50% 38% 54%
Network (Very) High 60% 14% 11% 9% 3% Integration (base: Moderate 14% 34% 20% 17% 6% 35 resp.) Low/ No importance 3% 26% 40% 49% 54% Applications (Very) High 73% 33% 20% 7% through seamless Moderate 7% 20% 7% 20% 20% networks (base: 15 resp.) Low/ No importance 20% 40% 47% 47% Safety, Security & (Very) High 53% 47% 13% 33% Comfort of use Moderate 7% 20% 33% 7% 20% (base: 15 resp.) Low/ No importance 13% 7% 20% 27% 47%
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband technologies, 2007
1.5 Composition Analysis
The 55 projects included in the Broadband Technologies domain involved 317 organisations and accounted for 460 participations. In total, 440 participations regarded RTD projects.
As is illustrated in Exhibit 10, industry/business organisations accounted for more than half of the participations in the Broadband domain (240 participations from 171 different organisations in RTD projects). One quarter (26%) was taken up by Higher Education Institutes and 16% by Research Institutes.
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Exhibit 10 Broadband Technologies - Typologies of Participating Organisations
Typologies of Organisations (440 participations) PA/ Representative Organisations/ Other organisations NGO 2% Public (or semi- 2% state) Research In s t. 16%
In du stry/B us in ess 54% Higher Education 26%
Source: EC, FP5 project database
As results from Exhibit 11, there were only minor differences between the research sub- domains in terms of stakeholder group representation.
Exhibit 11 Share of the stakeholder groups in the research sub-domains
Share of the stakeholder groups in the subdomains (440 participations)
Applications through seamless networks 51% 25% 17 % 3%
Network Integration 55% 26% 18 % 1%
Optical Networks 57% 27% 15 %
Safety, Security & Comfort of use 56% 24% 13 % 6%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
In du str y/B u si n ess Higher Education Public (or semi-state) Research Inst. PA/ Representative Organisations/ NGO Other organisations
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband technologies, 2007
Broadband Technologies was a domain with a 51% of “single participations”, 17% of the participants was involved in two projects and 32% in three or more projects. 7 organisations were participating in 8 or more projects within the domain: • National Technical University of Athens: 11 projects • Portugal Telecom Inovacao: 9 projects • T-Systems Nova: 9 projects • France Telecom: 8 projects • Fraunhofer Gesellschaf zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung: 8 projects • Siemens: 8 projects • University College London: 8 projects
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The domain saw a high participation of telecom equipment manufacturers and network operators: in the group of (16) individual participants who received more than 1 million €, 12 participants were industry players – see Exhibit 12, below. These included Alcatel/Lucent (4 divisions), Siemens (2 divisions), Telefónica (1 division), Telecom Italia (1 division), ECI Telecom (1 division), Telscom (1 division), Optibase (1 division), Alenia Spazio (1 division).
1.5.1 Large industry players Telecom equipment manufacturers and incumbent operators were the main beneficiaries of EC funding in the broadband domain. In total, industry players received close to 60% of this public funding.
These industry organisations were primarily involved in projects of the 'optical networks' and 'network integration' sub-domains. For instance, Alcatel and Lucent participated in 13 projects of these sub-domains (6 in 'optical networks', 7 in 'network integration') and only in 3 projects regarding the 'applications' sub-domain and 1 non- RTD project. On the telcos' side, Deutsche Telekom, with a total of 11 participations, focused exclusively on projects of the 'optical networks' and 'network integration' sub- domains.
Exhibit 12 List of individual beneficiaries of EC funding > 1 M€ in FP5/broadband domain
Organisation Project EC funding (M€) ECI Telecom METEOR 1.999 Telecom Italia LION 1.985 Siemens AQUILA 1.721 Alcatel SEL DAVID 1.368 Telefonica I&D Euro6IX 1.362 Optibase VideoGateway 1.355 Alcatel CIT DAVID 1.307 Alcatel SEL TOPRATE 1.291 Telscom NGN-INITIATIVE 1.271 Alenia Spazio SUITED 1.260 Siemens CAPRICORN 1.147 University College London FAIN 1.094 Lucent (NL) HARMONICS 1.066 Research Centre Com DAVID 1.044 University College London ANDROID 1.010 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven STOLAS 1.003 Source: EC FP5 database
At corporate group level, Alcatel/Lucent and Siemens were the first two main beneficiaries of EC funding in the broadband domain (see Exhibit 13). In the manufacturing segment, Ericsson was far behind, while Nokia received less than 1 million € in total. Regarding telcos, the first 5 European incumbent operators received between 3.2 million € and 2.2 million €; also Portugal Telecom received a substantial financial support.
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Exhibit 13 List of industrial beneficiaries of EC funding > 1 M€ in FP5/broadband domain at corporate group level
Organization Project participations EC funding (M€) Alcatel/Lucent 17 10.578 Siemens 12 6.588 Intracom 7 4.037 Telecom Italia 4 3.223 Deutsche Telekom 11 3.010 France Telecom 9 3.007 Portugal Telecom 9 2.440 Solinet 5 2.389 Ericsson 9 2.296 Telefónica 3 2.186 6Wind 6 2.163 British Telecom 6 2.162 ECI Telecom 1 1.999 Sycomore 2 1.475 KPN 3 1.398 Optibase 1 1.355 Telscom 1 1.271 Alenia Spazio 1 1.260 Telenor 4 1.210 VCON Telecom 2 1.182 Source: EC FP5 database
1.5.2 SME participation SME Participation under the IST theme has always been an important issue, in particular due their greater flexibility in adjusting to new developments and their innovativeness. In the broadband domain, SMEs were participating in close to 25% of the projects, according to the survey results, which is quite similar to the average level of involvement of SMEs in the overall FP5 programme.
SMEs accounted for 8% of the participations in the projects of the broadband domain (survey basis). It seems that they were less involved in projects of the 'optical networks' sub-domain, which can be explained by the larger project size in this category and the "mechanical" marginalisation of SMEs' role, given their limited human and financial resources. In the 1999-2003 ISP Programme assessment, ISTAG could observe in FP5 that "where the size [of projects] exceeds €3M-€5M, SME participation rapidly diminishes". The average budget for projects in 'optical networks' was over 6 million €. In total, 14 RTD projects (out of 51) in the broadband domain had a budget of over 5 million € and only 9 were under 3 million € !
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1.6 Overview of Domain Activities against Domain Objectives
In this section, we consider the sub-domains, as described in section1.4.2, and assess to which extent the research funded in these sub-domains responded to the various impact objectives as set out by the Programme.
The specific scientific and technological objectives for the broadband domain dealt mainly with the development of technology components and technical solutions for broadband networks, which was the core activity of projects in the "Optical networks" and "Network integration" sub-domains. Thus the objectives and planned impacts of those two areas concentrated naturally on scientific and technological issues. They could also contribute to other objectives (economic, social or policy/regulation) but to a lesser extent; for instance, network solutions can be more or less appropriate to open access and clear the way for regulatory initiatives.
As regards economic objectives, they were mainly oriented towards the development of end-to-end applications through interoperability of various core network and access technologies and types of terminals, which is greatly matching with the sub-domain "Applications through seamless networks". Projects in this sub-domain could also address other issues, in particular social objectives as they contributed to provide efficient operational solutions for end users.
Policy and regulation objectives can be seen as sub issues addressed by all sub- domains as the development of new broadband platforms inevitably leads to concerns about supply structure (competition), access to contents, customer protection, etc.
Finally, social objectives also refer to the development of integrated networks and seamless services but they put emphasis on the usage issues; these issues were clearly addressed by projects in the sub-domain "Safety, security and comfort of use".
Exhibit 14 Match of Sub-domain Activities against Objectives
Optical Network Applications through Safety, Security &
Networks Integration seamless networks Comfort of use
Scientific and technological +++ ++ + +
Economic ++ ++
Policy and regulation + + +
Social + ++ +++ : very high match ++ : high match + : moderate match
We can observe that scientific and technological objectives were very ambitious, especially in the optical networks sub-domain for which Europe had a huge need to catch up with US and Japan But other objectives represented also a real challenge: new broadband solutions, beyond the technical difficulties associated to their developments, had also to demonstrate their ability to support economic, competitive, secure and easy-to-use applications and services. These were certainly considered as secondary objectives with contribution to the technical research community as primary goal.
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2 Scientific & Technological Environment
2.1 State of the Art at Beginning of Period (Start of FP5 - 1998)
The 1990s was dense of achievements and scientific and technological results in all the areas of optical networking. At the dawn of the new millennium optical technology was already used for transmission in core and long distance networks (about 2 million km optical fibre had been already deployed at the end of ‘90s): fibre-based transmission systems (both terrestrial and submarine) were often operated adopting Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) with about 10 to 20 wavelengths per fibre, each wavelength usually modulated at 2.5 Gbit/s (see below).
If optical transmission was used in practice, all-optical switching was only at an experimental stage of development: few commercial products were available and operators were in a wait-to-see position. Photonics was regarded as a very promising field and expectations on the possibility to (at least partially) substitute electronics “inside the box” were high. Thus, the international research scenario was quite rich of initiatives, labs, in-field experimental installations and research consortia focused on optical networking and photonic switching.
Existing networks were still based on a wide variety of different solutions and technologies, however, each targeting a specific need or service: on the one hand, the circuit-switched networks (i.e. PSTN, ISDN, mobile) providing the former telecommunication services (voice and followings), and on the other hand the packet- switched networks for data services. Therefore an intensive research activity dedicated to network interconnection and inter-working was set in place, carried out by Public and Private Bodies, projects and working groups, at a national or international level.
Already in that time period, the integration process was perceived as a critical issue to save money, reduce complexity and reach an improved flexibility. Seamless networks would provide the capacity needed to deliver the same kind of services to subscribers, utilizing different technologies in a transparent way, with issues covering both the supplier side (network oriented applications) and the end-user side (service applications).
Besides the content of services, safety, security and comfort of applications are key factors and expectations for the end-user, involving the hardware technologies, operating systems, protocol communication layers and profiling.
2.1.1 Optical networks and related network elements According to a vision commonly shared by researchers in this period, telecom infrastructure was divided into packet-switched, ATM and circuit-switched networks, the latter mainly carrying voice and data. It was expected that networking evolutions would lead to a single integrated transparent optical transport network for voice, data and video, based on DWDM, capable of supporting different protocols (packet and circuit switching). An alternative vision that started to emerge (and on the long run
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would prove to be correct) foresaw that IP, supported by high-speed transport networks, would become the single ubiquitous transport protocol. A first high-level view of optical network evolutions is depicted in Exhibit 15.
Exhibit 15 Optical Networks – summary table
ATM OTN Mesh Metro-Ethernet Netwk. Rings IP BoD LANs Tera-router RPR Carrier-Ethernet
GMPLS/ASON interoperability ContMang. TMN Optical resilience Distib.-auto. C.plane
Switch/ VCAT/LCAS Multiservice hybrid SHD/OXC SDH/Sonet OADM OXC interface GFP 10G-Ethernet Deployment CWDM Transm. 20-λ DWDM @ 2.5 / 10 Gbit/s FEC 80-λ DWDM @ 10 / 40 Gbit/s
IETF MPLS MPλS GMPLS
ITU-T G.692 - WDM G.983 - APON G.709 - OTN G.65x - fibers G.984 - GPON G.8080 - ASON
OIF UNI E-NNI
Standards IEEE 802.3ah - EPON 802.17 - RPR
ATMOS, AON WDM planning Metro Resilient-netw. planning Dynamic traffic Netwk. APON OTDM RWA Scheduling Optimiz./RWA under phy. constr.
WDM-system Management Multidomain routing ContMang. Optical SLA 5-nines availab. Fault detection Control-plane models
Optical ATM OXC architectures Optical IP rout. Switch. Fiber buffers Crosstalk-free fabric
Research OBS
Tunable sources/filters, sw. fabrics, λ convert., AWG Non-linear effects compens.
Technolog. NOBEL, e-PhotonONe
Solitons, coherent Dispersion compens. 2-D/3-D MEMS Large FP6 optical projects:
1999FP5 FP6 2006
Several research consortia were active in the area of optical networks. The major funding sources were: the Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in U.S., the Research and development in Advanced Communications in Europe (RACE) programme of the European Commission. These consortia have contributed to the development of studies and research works on a large number of topics. Major results can be summarized as follows. a. A huge effort was dedicated to the core/transport segment with a vast literature produced on wavelength-routed networks (also called circuit-switched or light path switched or, simply, WDM networks) and early works and studies on multicasting in WDM networks (light-trees), WDM network design under physical impairments and transmission constraints, ATM over DWDM integration proposals. Several test beds were built and run to demonstrate the new optical core-network technologies. For instance, a wavelength-routed test bed was set up in the U.S. by the ONTC consortium, while in Europe the RACE II – funded Multi Wavelength Transport Network (MWTN) consortium operated a similar test bed. b. An intense research activity was dedicated to regional/metro applications and campus application (very-high-speed LANs for large computing-centre interconnection): WDM rings with Optical Add-Drop Multiplexers (OADMs) with self-healing capabilities and related reservation schemes were proposed. In the U.S. the DARPA-sponsored Consortium NGI-ONRAMP ran an experimental WDM ring-based network. The broadcast-and-select optical architecture became
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a popular solution for campus high-speed applications. Test beds (the NSF- sponsored STARNET and the ARPA-funded Rainbow II and AON) were operated in the U.S. c. All-optical packet switching networks was a very attractive research field in this period. Due to the deployment situation mentioned above, the optical implementation of ATM was regarded as the ultimate goal. The Asynchronous Transfer Mode Optical Switching (ATMOS) RACE project in Europe, started in 1992 and ended towards 1995, had gathered and coordinated the efforts of most of researchers working in this area. d. In the access segment, proposals for various types of Passive Optical Networks (PON) appeared in this period (WDM PONs, ATM PONs, TDM PONs). The RACE BAF project and the Full Service Access Network (FSAN) consortium were active. ITU-T Recommendation G.983 (1998) defines the APON (ATM PON) architecture. e. Other interesting research areas were: Ultrafast TDM LANs: based on OTDM/OTDMA techniques to multiplex ultra-short optical pulses to achieve a capacity from 40 Gbit/s to 100 Gbit/s (e.g. the AON HLAN network). In the context of optical packet switching, the multi-hop optical network solution and deflection routing was proposed to overcome the difficulty of implementing optical buffers. In 1999 the new Optical Burst Switching (OBS) paradigm was proposed for the first time. OBS is nowadays an important research area (see Sec. 1.2.2). f. Towards the end of nineties optical network integration started to emerge as a new topic and to attract growing interest. This is enabling a “seamless” interoperation between network domains based on different technology and between different network layers. ITU-T initiated in 2001 the activity of two Study Groups: SG13 “Multi-protocol and IP-based networks and their inter- working” and SG15 “Optical and other transport networks”. Furthermore by the end of 1998, ITU-T set up the IP-Project to study the integration of IP-based network over a WDM-based OTN network. This is also the main goal of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), a new standardisation body launched in 1998, which would become of primary importance for optical networking in the years to come5. Towards the end of nineties, also, the first research works on optical network manageability began to appear.
5 It is worth mentioning that in this period (1996 – 1998) the new Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) architecture is defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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2.1.2 Network integration A first high-level view of the evolution in network integration evolution is shown in Exhibit 16, below.
Exhibit 16 Network Integration – summary table
Start of FP5 Today Future development
GSM deployed. UMTS deployment (2002). Mobile Phone GPRS (release ’97) and EDGE (release ’99). Standardisation of HSPA (2004). 3GPP LTE. 3G standardisation (1999 – 3GPP). HSDPA on the market (2006).
ADSL deployed (2000). ADSL2 published (2002). ADSL2+ standardized and adopted by the xDSL VDSL2 foreseen in largely ADSL standardized (ITU -1999). market (2004). technologies deployment. VDSL1 standardized (2004). VDSL2 standardized (2005). VDSL2 deployment started (2006) Std. IEEE 802.11b (1999). Std. IEEE 802.11g (2003). 802.11n expected to be WiFi Std. IEEE 802.11a (2001). WiFi largely adopted by the market (2004). ratified (2008). IEEE 802.16 (2001). 802.16m (Gigabit WiMAX) IEEE 802.16d (WiMAX fixed - 2004). expected to be ratified WiMAX IEEE 802.16e (WiMAX mobile -2005). (2009). A large diffusion is Early WiMAX Fixed deployment (2005). foreseen. Market adoption of DVB-C and DVB-S and DVB-C and DVB-S (back to 1999, ETSI, DVB-T (during FP5). DVB-SH expected to be DVB DVB project). DVB-H standard (2004). published (2008). DVB-T standard (1999). DVB-H adoption on the market (2006) USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) Wireless USB (based on formed in 1995. WiMedia MB-OFDM USB USB 2.0 (2000). Considerable deployment. USB 0.7 (1994). Ultra-wideband (UWB) USB 1.0 (1996). radio platform). UFIR (Ultra Fast Infrared - IrDA IrDA standard (1999). IrDA adopted by the market (2005). 2009). Bluetooth v.1.1 (2000). Bluetooth/ Bluetooth v 2.0 (2004). Wibree chips available
WiBree Bluetooth v.2.1 (2005). Considerable (2008). deployment. ZigBee 1.0 (IEEE 802.15.4 - 2004). Zigbee Zigbee 2.0 (2006). Initial deployment. IETF IPv4 deployed. IP Deployment of IPv6. IETF IPv6 (1996) Technologies ITU MEGACO/H.248, Sigtran and SCTP. Initial implementations were available (1998). integration IETF WGs IntServ (1994) and DiffServ QoS Deployment. (1998). MPLS evolutions should be standardized short- MPLS IETF MPLS (2001). Initial deployment. term. Large deployment is expected. IETF Mobile IP (2002). Mobility IETF Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (2005). management Deployment of proprietary solutions. Next Generation Definition of 4G systems (preliminary work
Networks performed by the WWRF - founded in 2001). IETF WGs P3P and L2TP. Transparent Deployment of either standardized or LAN Services proprietary solutions.
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Provisioning of voice-like services Voice-like services were provided by the former legacy circuit-switched telephone networks (PSTN and ISDN) for fixed users and by cellular networks (i.e. TACS and GSM) for mobile users. As fixed services were concerned, fixed voice-like services were provided by national telecom operators and in many European countries deregulation had just begun. Each operator had deployed its own network using best practice of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and of the more novel Integrated Services for Digital Network (ISDN), which can deliver speeds up to 2 Mbit/s. Almost all Internet Home connections were dial-up but phone calls still represented the great majority of traffic. Regarding wireless services, GSM was already recognized as a big European success and had overcome previous (analog) cellular technologies. Fixed and mobile voice-like services were quite integrated at core level. Completely separated access infrastructures were attached to a common core. Indeed, traffic generated by both fixed and mobile users was likely to be carried (multiplexed) on common trunks, both in separate virtual circuits (ATM terminology) or Virtual Containers (SDH terminology) in the backbone. Integration of voice-like services for fixed and mobile users was not an issue. The main standardisation bodies involved in the evolution process of voice services were the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) for fixed networks, and the 3GPP group of ETSI for wireless networks.
Provisioning of data-like services Data communication services were supported by packet-switched network technologies such as X.25, Frame Relay (FR) and more recently ATM. The Internet could use them but specific access technologies had just appeared, in particular xDSL (which can use the copper loop), cable modem (upgraded from cable TV networks), and some alternative technologies, such as PLC or wireless access networks (WLL, WiFi but also satellite) with few deployments. Developments were also introduced in the domain of domestic or in-building networks: USB and Firewire (interconnecting different peripherals and external devices, such as cameras and videos, to PCs), IrDA and Bluetooth (exchange of small amount of data between cellular phones, PDAs and PCs, or to interconnect external devices such as headsets) or WiFi (to create small wireless home networks).
Voice and data integration At the end of 1990s, voice and data integration was becoming a more and more critical issue, a goal to achieve as the next evolution of current network infrastructure of any kind. In the late 1990s, ITU and IETF triggered research for an effective integration/cooperation between the legacy telephone network (i.e. PSTN) and the rapidly evolving Internet. This would later lead to the standardisation of novel protocols, such as MEGACO/H.248, Sigtran and SCTP. The PSTN/Internet Interfaces (PINT) working group was established with the aim to address connection arrangements through which Internet applications can request and enrich PSTN services. Initial implementations were available in 1998. The IETF WGs IntServ and DiffServ (issued in 1994 and 1998, respectively), created with the specific aim of designing models for a QoS-enabled IP architecture. It is worth
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mentioning the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), first specified in 1997 (RFC 2205) and extended in 2000 (RFC 2750), designed with the purpose to signal resource reservation for single application flow throughout the network, from host-to-host. The Internet2 and following QBone in US of late 90s are relevant research projects involving several public and private networks with the aim of realizing an end-to-end QoS-enabled infrastructure. The corresponding European project was GEANT, a collaboration between 26 National Research and Education Networks representing 30 countries across Europe, the European Commission and DANTE, founded some years later (November 2000). Its principal purpose was to develop the GEANT network: a multi-gigabit pan-European data communications network, reserved specifically for research and education use. The employment of legacy backhaul networks (i.e. PDH and SDH) on either copper wire or fibre, and basic TDM circuits on copper wire (pair) in the access, for data-like, other than former voice-like traffic delivery, was just the need to exploit the only available telecommunication infrastructures, at a cost of poor resource usage (share) and often QoS levels. Even in case of ADSL, voice and data travelled in separate frequency bands on the same copper wire, and filtered at the first TELCO device, Local Loop Exchange and Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM). Actual integration between the voice- and data- like services was not achieved in any extent in real-life, but deeply studied in the research world.
2.1.3 Applications through seamless networks
Network applications At the beginning of FP5, activities in this field were mainly focused on grid and multi- service networks.
Exhibit 17 Network applications (Start of FP5)
Network applications Standardisation Bodies & Technologies Standard releases & Deployment
Multiservice network MultiService Forum (MSF), a global The MSF Forum didn’t release any reference architecture association of service providers and system architecture by the end of 1990s. suppliers, was committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Grid technologies Global Grid Forum (GGF) birthed in high Few implementations can be found at the end performance computing community in 1998. of 1990s.
Seamless handover SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and Mobile IP Since the early 1990’s there had been numerous were being specified by IETF to solve the industrial initiatives and academic projects Mobility Management problem. either directly or indirectly working with horizontal and vertical handover.
Mobile Virtual Network Virgin Mobile was the first MVNO launched Operator its operations in November 1999.
Transparent Network IETF Provider Provisioned Virtual Private The deployment of interoperable PPVPN LAN providers Networks (PPVPNs) working group was implementations had been restricted by the services - oriented responsible for defining the common wide variety of network solutions, with limited components and pieces that are needed to interoperability. build and deploy a PPVPN.
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User - IETF Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol IPsec RFCs released on 1995 and 1998. IETF oriented (PPTP), IETF IP security (IPsec) working L2TP published in 1999 as proposed standard. group; IETF Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol In 1999, the IETF published the first standard (L2TP) working group; IETF Transport Layer for TLS (SSL-VPN). Security (TLS) Working Group (developed of At the beginning of FP5, IPsec was the most a SSL with a VPN capabilities). relevant solutions applied to the private market. Traffic Engineering Traditional TE in IP networks was performed either by FR or by ATM. Service-level inter- Customised Applications for Mobile CAMEL Phases 1 (1997) and phase 2 (1998) working networks Enhanced Logic, or CAMEL (ETSI were defined before 3G networks were TS 123 078) for short, is a set of standards specified. Phase 3 (1999) was defined for 3GPP designed to work on either a GSM core Releases 99 and 4, and hence is a GSM and network or UMTS network. UMTS common specification. The Parlay Group is a technical industry consortium (founded 1998) that specifies APIs for the telephone network.
Service applications At the end of the 1990s, researchers were facing different research activities on service applications over seamless networks. The main ones are summarized in Exhibit 18.
Exhibit 18 Service applications (Start of FP5)
Service applications Standardisation Bodies Standard releases & Deployment
Service level SLAs had been used since late 80's by agreement (SLA) fixed line telecom operators as part of their contracts with their corporate customers. Authentication, The IETF AAA effort was one of many IETF security Remote Authentication Dial In User Authorization, and initiatives. Service (RADIUS) protocol for Accounting (AAA) applications such as network access or IP mobility. RADIUS was published on 1997. At the end of 1990s, RADIUS was the only choice for AAA functions. New-value added SIP was designed in 1996 by Columbia University and in At the end of 1990s, H.323 was the only services/multimedia 1999 was founded the IETF Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) option considered for the provision of applications working group. On the other hand, H.323 is an umbrella voice services over the internet, while recommendation from ITU. It was first defined in 1996 and SIP was at the beginning of his had been updated regularly. standardisation process. Triple play Triple Play focuses on a combined business model rather When ADSL hit the market in the late than solving technical issues or a common standard. 90s, the residential broadband market started to really heat up.
2.1.4 Safety, security and comfort of use Some topics, basic components and concepts were designed and developed before 1998 and were further enhanced. Embedded systems and sensors are utilized in automotive, aerospace, telecommunication and medical markets. IEEE 1451 is the family of standards for connecting smart transducers to networks. The first standard to be published was IEEE 1451.2, which was approved on 1997. Early commercial RTOS (Real Time Operative System) Vendors appeared in the late 1970s, usually distributing their OSs in the form of a ROM or EPROM device.
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At the end of the 1990s, there were basically three options in choosing embedded or device operating systems: open-source, commercial-grade open-source, or commercial OS. Open source RTOS (like embedded Linux) exploded in popularity due to the lack of licensing and royalty fees, the unlimited customisability, and the easy access to expert developers. Unfortunately, many design teams discovered the ugly side of this trade-off as well – proliferation of many disparate versions, unlimited customisability, and complete lack of support. These deficiencies led to the creation of “commercial” and “commercial grade” open source RTOSs. The commercial RTOS market has largely held its stand against the open-source incursion, due to the huge value of the additional level and single point of accountability; for companies involved in high-security or defence-related design, there may be additional requirements (such as mandatory domestic content) that cannot be served by any open-source system.
Every RTOS has its own proprietary API, but some of them also support the Portable Operating System Interface for Computing Environments (POSIX) standards. The original POSIX standard was first published by IEEE in 1990. POSIX defines a standard way for an application to interface to the operating system; a release of POSIX was also specified to cover real-time extensions and multi-threading. The IEEE Computer Society's Portable Application Standards Committee (PASC) formed in 1985, is the group that has been developing the POSIX family of standards. The Real-time and Embedded Systems Forum defines, coordinates, integrates and prioritises real-time and embedded systems standards utilizing various existing architectural approaches. The POSIX System Services Working Group — Real time (SSWG-RT) considers amendments to the real time POSIX profiles IEEE Std 1003.13-1998, reflecting implementation, and field experience with IEEE 1003.13.
Positioning and navigation systems are typical examples of embedded systems. Early predecessors were the ground based DECCA, LORAN and Omega systems, which used terrestrial long wave radio transmitters instead of satellites. The first satellite navigation system was Transit, a system deployed by the US military in the 1960s and based on Doppler’s effect. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was the only Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) available at the end of 1990s. The GPS was developed by the United States Department of Defence; it uses a constellation of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites (in orbit since January 1994) and enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed and direction. GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) is a radio-based satellite navigation system, developed by the former Soviet Union. Development on the GLONASS began in 1976, with a goal of global coverage by 1991. Beginning in 1982, numerous satellite launches progressed the system forward until the constellation was completed in 1995. Following completion, the system rapidly felt into disrepair with the collapse of the Russian economy.
Although the Multi Agent System (MAS) is still strictly a research topic, many graphic computer games have developed using MAS algorithms and MAS frameworks in the '90s. At the end of 1990s, there were three important agent standardisation efforts that were attempting to support interoperability between agents on different types of agent platform: KQML community, OMG’s MASIF and FIPA. Since the ‘90s, MAS has been widely advocated to be used in networking and mobile technologies, to achieve automatic and dynamic load balancing, high scalability, and self healing networks.
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2.2 State of the Art Today
2.2.1 Optical networks During FP5 time-interval and up to now the network scenario has dramatically changed worldwide, especially quantitatively. Large incumbent network operators have today to compete with several other operators that flourished especially in the broadband access market and as carriers of traffic to support wireless mobile infrastructures, and have now in majority concluded their initial development phases. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) paradigm is also well established. This situation led to new commercial- service concepts such as carrier of carriers and bandwidth brokering. It should be mentioned that a new important user community of optical networks emerged, comprising the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) and their international interconnection infrastructure (e.g. the GEANT project of DANTE consortium in Europe). As far as protocols and services are concerned, IP affirmed as THE common ubiquitous network technology, becoming the solution to make full service integration over a single network infrastructure a reality. The motivation towards such an approach is cost reduction, both on the CAPEX and OPEX sides. On the other hand, ATM disappeared as network integration solution and it is nowadays confined to very specific application scenarios (ADSL, corporate networks, legacy), as well as former assets to leverage on. Together with service integration, also infrastructure simplification has been generally pursued, leading to more “flat” transport networks. Sonet and SDH technologies still remain in large portions of transport networks, but are used in a much more flexible way, adopting multi-granularity cross connects, techniques (VCAT, LCAS) and new framing (Generic Framing Procedure – GFP, ITU-T standard G.7041/Y.1303 (2001)) to achieve a more efficient mapping of packets over circuits. Fibre infrastructure has dramatically increased, particularly in the first years of 2000. Over 150 million km fibres (twice Earth-Sun distance), at an average rate of 15000 km a day, have been deployed worldwide. Fibre-network topologies are changing from ring-based to mesh. The new concept of dark fibre affirmed (i.e. fibre deployed for future use, before being actually lit-up). Optical cross connects are electronic circuit-switching nodes equipped with optical interfaces. The ITU-T first version of Recommendation G.709 that defines the standard optical interface gave birth to the Optical Transport Network (OTN) model. Several important innovations were soon adopted in commercial systems: supervisory channel, 3-level TDM multiplexing hierarchy (OTH) for sub-lambda channel utilization, signalling and Forward Error Correction (FEC). Besides OTN, an alternative approach emerged, and was adopted by many operators and vendors, envisioning the transport network as a set of high-capacity and high-throughput IP routers (“giga” or “tera” routers) interconnected by optical links. Giga-routers communicate with each other applying different interfaces, including (but not limited to) Sonet/SDH. In the framework of this second vision, Giga-Ethernet interfaces, in particular, emerged as a cheap but well suited alternative to Sonet and SDH. Ethernet, thus, has come suddenly into play (especially in its 10 Gbit/s version) as an interesting and popular technology not only for LANs, but also for transport and metro applications. Despite the remarkable number of experimental studies and demonstrators continuously proposed in the years from 2000 up to now, all-optical switching is still far from being massively deployed and actually used by network operators. Optical transmission systems have evolved achieving higher wavelength counts. Standard commercial DWDM systems operate with usually about 80 WDM channels in
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the same optical window, each channel modulated at 10 Gbit/s. This new performance is achieved thanks to upgrades in EDFAs and new techniques to compensate dispersion and other transmission impairments. DWDM systems operating at higher numbers of wavelengths (up to more than 100), possibly at lower bit-rates, are also available, though less used in practice. 40 Gbit/s systems are considered an interesting option in special cases, though they are not wide-spread due to high cost of electronics and difficulties in engineering the systems. FEC utilization with powerful error-correction codes increases maximum transmission distance. Coarse WDM (CWDM) systems (up to 18 wavelengths per fibre) are sometimes adopted in metro optical networks, due to their low cost. In the last years, the possibly most outstanding evolutions in optical networks are related to two keywords: interoperability and automatic control. In both fields, innovation rapidly transferred from research to standardisation and nowadays to deployment, involving several operators and manufacturers. In both cases the enabling step was the definition of a new control-plane concept based on control distribution and on the utilization of well-known and wide-spread signalling protocols coming from the IP network technology (e.g. RSVP-TE, OSPF-TE). This development was enabled by important achievements in standardisation such as the definition of GMPLS and ASON architectures and of UNI and E-NNI network interfaces (see below).
Exhibit 19 Standardisation in optical network sub-domain (Today)
Standardisation Bodies General topic Milestone documents or activities & Study Groups Optical transport ITU-T SG15 “Optical Definition of optical fibre features: G.65x: (2000 – 2003) networks and other transport Definition of standard wavelength comb for WDM networks”. systems: G.694.1 (DWDM); G.694.2 (CWDM) (2002) Network node interface for the optical transport network (OTN): G.709 (2003) Definitions and Terminology for Optical Transport Networks (OTN): G.870 (2004) Forward Error Correction: G.975 (2000) IP over Optical transport IETF A first attempt: MultiProtocol lambda Switching integration (MPλS) (1998 – 2001) Automatically-switched IETF CCAMP working Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control planes group (2002-2004) Control-protocol extensions (RSVP-TE, OSPF-TE, LDP) are made compatible with optical networks ITU-T SG13 “Multi- ITU-T ASTN and ASON architecture definition protocol and IP-based ITU-T ASON control plane: G.8080/Y.1304 (2001-2006) networks and their Routing and topology discovery: G.7714/Y.1705 (2001- interworking” 2005); G.7715/Y.1706 (2002-2005) Interoperability ITU-T + IETF General attempt to improve interoperability between ASON and GMPLS OIF Implementation agreements for standardized network interfaces: User Network Interface (UNI) (2002-2005), External Node Network Interface (E-NNI) (2005-today) Access and metro optical IEEE; IEEE Study Resilient Packet Ring (RPR): IEEE 802.17 (2003) networks Group “Ethernet in the Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPON): 2001: IEEE First Mile (EFM)” 802.3ah (2003-2004) ITU-T (+ FSAN Gigabit-capable PON (G-PON) : G.984.x (2003) consortium)
Interoperability comes from the need of operators not only to use equipment from different vendors in their own network, but also to easily interface with networks of other operators to provide multi-domain connections. Furthermore, interoperability is
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also required to be able to control equipment operating at different network layers in an efficient and unified way. Automatic control, naturally matching with control distribution, is needed to enable the network to quickly react to customer demands and needs. It comprises many features from automatic topology discovery and inventory to automatic connection setup and tear-down, allowing to offer the Bandwidth-on Demand (BoD) service. Most vendors of optical-network switching equipment already provide their products with a control plane implementing GMPLS or ASON or both.
2.2.2 Network integration
Wired Technologies Various broadband access technologies emerged in the last years.
Exhibit 20 Wired technologies for Broadband Access and Short range communications (Today)
Technology Standard releases & Deployment Features ITU-T G.991.2.and ETSI TS 101 524 SHDSL (Single-pair High-speed DSL (SDSL) released in 2001.Deployed to Data rate up to 5.6 Mbit/s up/down Transceivers) substitute HDSL. SHDSL.bis ITU-T G.991.2.bis (2003) Multi-pair bonded over 4-wire. Data rate up to 11 Mbit/s down and 1 ADSL2 (Asymmetric DSL transceivers 2) ITU-T G.992.3 was published in 2002. Mbit/s up. ITU-T G.992.5 was first made available Data rate up to 24 Mbit/s down and 1 ADSL2+ (Asymmetrical DSL transceivers 2+) in 2003. Mbit/s up Data rate up to 55 Mbps down and 15 VDSL1 (Very High Data Rate DSL 1) ITU-T G.993.1 was of 2004. Mbps up Data rate up to 100 Mbit/s VDSL2 (Very High Data Rate DSL 2) ITU-T G.993.2 standardized in 2005. downlink/uplink The FTTH Council, is a non-profit organization, (established in 2001) to The technology used for FTTH solutions promote the benefits of FTTH is PON. FTTH (Fiber To The Home) solutions. Based on Ethernet technology, which Both standard (i.e. IEEE 802.3) and allows a speed from 10 Mbit/s up to 1 proprietary (e.g. Long Reach Ethernet) Gbit/s. solutions were available. Several competing standards are evolving including the HomePlug Despite the promising results, practical Powerline Alliance, Universal issues (e.g. robustness to noise and PLC (Power Line Communication) Powerline Association, Consumer glitchies on the line) essentially lab Electronics Powerline experiments and test-bed have been Communications Alliance, ETSI PLT, carried out so far. and the IEEE. USB 2.0 was specified in April 2000. USB On-The-Go Supplement 1.3 was Maximum speed of 480 Mbit/s. Battery released in December 2006. Inter-Chip Universal Serial Bus (USB) Charging Specification 1.0 (ready in USB 1.0 was of March 2006. About 1 March 2007). billion devices deployed in the world in 2004. Optical connections up to 100 meters IEEE Std. 1394a-2000 and data rates up to 3.2 Gbit/s (IEEE Firewire IEEE Std. 1394b-2002 1394b). 800 Mbit/s over 100 m of IEE Std. 1394c-2005 Category 5 unshielded twisted pair cable (IEEE 1394c).
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The ADSL residential and small business access was connected to the IP backbone network of the operator mainly by means of an ATM network between the Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) and the Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS). In the core, traditional technologies, such as SONET/SDH, ATM (especially in Europe) and FR (especially in the US), have been still used, mostly to leverage the investments made in the '90s by telcos. Although ATM did not live up to every expectation, it remains an important core network technology. In 2004, the ATM Forum joined forces with the MPLS & Frame relay alliance to form the MFA Forum. The MFA Forum is an international, industry-wide, non profit association of telecommunications, networking, and other companies focused on advancing the deployment of multi-vendor, multi- service packet-based networks, associated applications, and interworking solutions. As very relevant innovation, Ethernet with its evolutions (up to 10 Gbit/s in practice) is being installed, both as a native approach or over already existing infrastructures (i.e. carried by SONET/SDH circuits), employing either standard (e.g. Generic Framing Procedure by ITU-T) or proprietary (e.g. by Cisco or Alcatel) solutions. The pool of such installations is not yet numerically relevant compared with the former deployments, but the simplicity, flexibility and cost effectiveness of such technology assures a rapid diffusion and employment in both MAN and WAN environments. Mainly IP traffic has been carried over Ethernet connections, but also LANs with metropolitan extensions have appeared very recently. This is a value added for geographically distributed companies and Public Institutions that can exploit the benefits of Transparent LAN Services (TLSs), compared with IP VPNs that are currently in place as former and widely spread solution. Several IETF WGs (e.g. P3P, L2TP) are working hard on specifying architectures and protocols for TLS. Even main Vendors (e.g. Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Juniper) support some either standardized or proprietary solutions. Internet services (issuing IP traffic) have been delivered in the core, either by ATM or directly by SONET/SDH, since the last years of the previous millennium. The latter has some advantages in terms of complexity and efficiency (lower overhead), but the need to leverage the existing infrastructure has led to the deployment of both solutions. The former is more used in Europe, where ATM is more widely installed, while the latter in the US and Asian Countries. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) has been quite recently used to carry both circuit and packet switching traffic, and seems a valid substitution to traditional optical infrastructures, thanks to its extremely high transmission capacity. Nowadays, it is not widely employed in real-life yet, but both product and market are well mature. Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology found strong consensus during the reference period for its simplicity, flexibility and Traffic Engineering capability. It has been provisioned since the first years of the new millennium, initially quite slowly and then more and more quickly, and several telco’s, as well as ISPs and private networks have employed it. MPLS offers an integrated end-to-end solution that can completely leverage on existing infrastructures, being standardized by IETF for all the practically available data-link technologies and independent from the specific network layer. It was first specified by RFC 3031 (IETF MPLS working group) in January 2001. MPLS enables Traffic Engineering (TE) over packet-switching technologies (mainly IP- based), previously exercised with ATM only. TE concerns with the performance optimization of traffic handling in operational networks. In the last few years, effort has been spent on MPLS extension and applications, for example about increased reliability (e.g. fast-reroute techniques and fault tolerance features in general), integration with
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DiffServ architecture and support of point-to-multipoint connections. It is worthwhile to mention its evolution to include optical networking (i.e. Generalized MPLS). Some value added services, nowadays also supported by packet-switching technologies (i.e. IP), both in the access and core, have a point-to-multipoint (e.g. video streaming) or multipoint-to-multipoint (e.g. videoconferencing) nature. The provisioning of IP multicasting is still an open issue in public networks; therefore, only private networks (e.g. from several telcos worldwide) have supported them since the last 5 years. Differently, both incumbents and local providers have often made unicast voice-like services available over a packet-switched telecommunication infrastructure, since the first years of the 21st century. As described in this paragraph, both technologies initially specified by private actors (e.g. MPLS by Cisco) or consortiums, such as Forums (e.g. ATM Forum), and Standard Bodies, such ITU-T (e.g. SDH, G.709), have been spread and widely used. This means that more and more, the provisioning of a technology or advances is related to its actual benefits, rather than to other interests.
Wireless technologies In the following table, the evolution in wireless technologies is mapped out, including both standardisation and deployment.
Exhibit 21 Wireless technologies (Today)
Technology Standard releases Deployment Release 99 (2000 Q1) specifies the first UMTS 3G network, 2G subscribers reached 1 billion in 2002 and by the incorporating a CDMA air interface. Later, Release 4 (2001 end of June 2006, the number rose to 2.45 billions. Q2) added features including an all-IP Core Network. HSDPA arrived on the market in the 2006 and GSM, UMTS Release 5 (2002 Q1) introduced IMS and HSDPA. Release 6 enabled new high-speed wireless data services. By (2004 Q4) integrated operation with Wireless LAN networks the end of June 2006, the number of 3G system and added HSUPA, MBM and enhancements to IMS such as subscribers reached 73 millions. Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC). During FP5 the market decided to adopt DVB-C and DVB-S. DVB-T market is adopting it very slowly DVB-C and DVB-S standardisation dates back to 1999. because it has to replace the widespread analog DVB DVB-T standard was published in 1999. DVB-H standard terrestrial TV. DVB-H adoption by the market is appeared in November 2004. quite recent (about 2006). Its popularity may increase in the next years due to collaboration among mobile operators and TV broadcasters. IEEE 802.11 a/b/g hardware is resident in over 100 million devices today. IEEE 802.11g standardized on 2003, supports data rates up WiFi has been used also for point-to-point radio to 54 Mbit/s. links between fixed core nodes as a cheap and WiFi WiFi is the brand licensed by the Wi-Fi Alliance for the license-free alternative to PDH or SDH radio wireless technology based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. technologies. In public utility places like airports and railway stations, the WiFi has headed the hot- spot wireless access market to the Internet. HIPERLAN is another Wireless LAN standard. It was a Unfortunately, HIPERLAN technology has largely HIPERLAN(HIgh European alternative for the IEEE 802.11 standards, defined proved unsuccessful in the marketplace compared to PErformance by ETSI, inside the BRAN project (Broadband Radio Access 802.11, even if it can potentially offer a better Radio LAN) Networks). performance. WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for It is considered one of the most effective innovations Microwave Access by the WiMAX Forum (formed in June in wireless technologies of the last decade. Adapted 2001). from an early version of 802.16e, WiBro (late 2004) is WiMAX IEEE 802.16 for 10-66 GHz (LMDS) was released in 2001, a wireless broadband technology that was developed followed by IEEE 802.16d (fixed/nomadic users) for 2-66 by the South Korean telecoms industry (two telecom GHz, with data rate up to 70 Mbit/s per channel (2004). IEEE operator launched commercial service in June 2006). 802.16e (mobility support) was standardized in 2005.
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In august 2005, IrDA published IrSimple, a High-Speed IrDA 400 million infra-red units had been installed (2005). Infrared Communications Protocol. Bluetooth v1.1 was released in November 2000. Bluetooth 2.0 was standardized in November 2004 with a higher data 600 million Bluetooth-enabled devices sold Bluetooth rate of 3.0 Mbit/s. Finally, Bluetooth Core Specification worldwide in 2006. Version 2.1 is of 2005. Wibree is a digital radio technology designed for ultra low power consumption within a short range. It operates with a Wibree chips will be available during the second half Wibree bit rate of 1 Mbit/s and is designed to complement of 2007 Bluetooth. In January 2006, the project was canceled since the IEEE 802.15.3 is a MAC and PHY standard for high-rate (11 standardisation process was in total deadlock due to to 55 Mb/s) WPANs, published in 2003. IEEE 802.15.3a was the competition of two technology: Multi-Band an attempt to provide a higher speed UWB PHY Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB- High Rate WPAN enhancement to IEEE 802.15.3 for applications which OFDM) UWB, supported by the WiMedia Alliance, involve data rate up to 1Gbit/s. The Wireless USB Promoter and Direct Sequence - UWB (DS-UWB), supported Group was formed in February 2004 to define the Wireless by the UWB Forum. Wireless USB is based on the USB specification. WiMedia Alliance's Ultra-WideBand (UWB) common radio platform. It deals with low data rate but very long battery life (months or years) and very low complexity. The ZigBee is based upon the specification produced by the IEEE 802.15.4. The Low Rate WPAN 19 million ZigBee units have been shipped in 2006. first 802.15.4 standard was released in May 2003. The ZigBee 1.0 was ratified in December 2004 and again in December 2006.
Over the past years, the attention of operators rapidly shifted to data transport on mobile networks, with GPRS and evolutions first and 3G systems like UMTS afterwards, especially in Europe and Asia. The WAP service was the first example of IP data processing in the mobile world, but the users have not used WAP as expected by operators because the available bandwidth was very poor and the applications were not really exciting. Similar considerations hold for i-mode, more popular in far-east countries. Satellite systems were deployed to carry both circuit and packet switched traffic, in the access and in the core. However, most applications concerned radio/TV channels transmission and only recently, and less significantly, Internet connections. Research efforts focused on wireless core networking. The IEEE 802.21 working group was established in March 2004 and developed standards to enable handover and interoperability between heterogeneous network types, including both 802 and non-802 networks. A first draft of the standard including the protocol definition was dated May 2005.
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Next Generation Networks As of the year 2000, the separation of services and transport layer is what characterized the technology replacement in all network environments: wireless and fixed, telephone and data, access and core. Moreover, the network infrastructures were converging on a packet-based network. The convergence was headed by the Internet Protocol (IP) and, more generally, by all the basic protocols that allow Internet communication: IP, TCP, and UDP. The leadership is due to the high flexibility of TCP/IP in terms of transported services and lower layer transport technology. Today IP protocols are used not only for all Internet services, such as WWW, emails, data transfer, but also for the telephone service by means of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies defined during the last ten years (e.g. H.323, SIP, and a lot of proprietary solutions).
The phenomenon of VoIP began as an optional two-way voice extension to some of the Instant Messaging systems that took off around the year 2000. As Internet carries the actual voice traffic, the advantage is that VoIP can be free or cost much less than a normal telephone call, especially over long distances and for those who have always-on ADSL or DSL Internet connections. IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is the most effective solution to deploy VoIP into the carrier networks: its adoption both in the mobile and the fixed world started in 2005.
Since the beginning of the new century, the research community started working on the so called 4G systems, the mobile network that will replace UMTS in the nearest future. It will be a fully IP-based integrated system of systems and network based on the convergence of wired and wireless technologies, as well as computer, consumer electronics, communication platforms and several other convergences; it will enable to provide rates ranging from 100 Mbit/s for cell-phone systems to 1 Gbit/s in local area networks with end-to-end QoS guarantees. The Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF), founded in 2001 by Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens, is standardizing 4G systems.
A Next Generation Network (NGN) is a packet-based network able to provide unicast, multicast and broadcast services including Telecommunication Services and able to make use of multiple broadband, QoS-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. It offers unrestricted access by users to different Service Providers. It supports generalized mobility that will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users. In 2004, an ITU Joint Rapporteur Group on NGN (JRG-NGN) was formed. The main subjects studied were: NGN requirements, the general reference model, functional requirements and architecture of the NGN, and evolution to NGN. The JRG-NGN produced two fundamental Recommendations: Y.2001 (General overview of NGN) and Y.2011 (General principles and general reference model for next generation networks) both released in 2004. In order to continue and accelerate NGN activities initiated by the JRG-NGN, ITU-T established a Focus Group on NGN (FGNGN) in may 2004. The FGNGN addressed the urgent need for an initial suite of global standards for NGN. The FGNGN’s mandate was extended through November 2005 as it was clearly attracting significant participation and input from the membership. Release 1 could be identified with requirements in various aspects such as QoS, Mobility, Security, Control, Interworking and Migration aspects (published in November 2005).
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Formed in 2003, TISPAN is the ETSI core competence centre for fixed networks and for migration from circuit-switched networks to packet-based networks with an architecture that can serve in both cases to create the Next Generation Network. . TISPAN Release 1 was ready in December 2005.
NGN are foreseen to run over version 6 of the IP protocol. In the reference period, the IETF IPv6 working group further elaborated on the issue (with RFCs published on 2003 and on 2006). In 2004, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced that the root DNS servers for the Internet had been modified to support both IPv6 and IPv4. Today, IPv6 accounts for a tiny percentage of the live addresses in the publicly- accessible Internet, which is still dominated by IPv4. However, it is worthwhile to highlight that the most recent IP-based devices, as well as applications and Operative Systems, natively support IPv6, and are quickly spreading worldwide.
2.2.3 Applications through seamless networks
Network applications The wide variety of technologies that has characterized the network scenario in the broadband domain of the last years has reflected on the development of applications. Some of them have significantly developed and enlarged in terms of features and capability.
Exhibit 22 Network applications (Today)
Standardisation Bodies & Network applications Standard releases & Deployment Technologies Multiservice network MultiService Forum (MSF) The MSF Reference Architectures were published in 2000, architecture and updated in 2002 and 2004.The last one reflects the reality of wireless-wireline inter-working by taking account of the 3GPP. IPMultimedia System (IMS) architecture in the core network
Grid technologies Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA) The OGSA (updated on 2006), OGSI and JSDL standards birthed in enterprise data center (2005) were created by the OGF. community in 2004. The Open Grid Grids today largely connote technical applications in the Forum (OGF) is the organization users’ minds. Increasingly interest is emerging in the (September 2006) that resulted commercial market, but licensing issues and the lack of from the merger of the Global Grid applications for the commercial market holds back adoption. Forum (GGF) and the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA). Seamless handover IEEE 802.21 working group started The group produced a first draft of the MIH (Media in 2004, to enable the handover of Independent Handover) standard including the protocol IP sessions from one layer 2 access definition in may 2005; the subsequent revisions to the draft technology to another, to achieve are in progress. mobility of end user devices. Mobile Virtual Network In the mobile world, during FP5, the number of Mobile Operator Virtual Network Operator increased exponentially. Today, there are globally 93 million MVNO subscribers and the most important MVNO, Virgin, has more than 4 million customers.
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Transparent Network The IETF PPVPN working group The work effort included the development of a service LAN providers - was concluded in 2003. MPLS VPN requirements document and several individual technical services oriented is a family of methods for approach documents to specify different VPN service harnessing the power of MPLS to offerings. create VPN, developed by IETF Today MPLS is the choice in enterprise solutions. L1VPN, L2VPN and L3VPN working groups User - The IETF working group “Layer In December 2005, third-generation documents of IPSEC, oriented Two Tunneling Protocol were produced. A new version of protocol L2TP version 3 Extensions” (L2TPEXT) was was published as proposed standard in 2005. established in 2006 for extensions SSLVPN has the majority compared to IPSEC, in the private to the L2TP. Transport Layer market. Security (TLS) heralds a new generation of VPN technology (advancements to its predecessor SSL). Traffic Engineering Traffic Engineering (TE) working TE has been extremely active in the last few years, since Group of IETF. 2002. MPLS-TE is the extension to MPLS for selecting the most efficient paths across an MPLS network, based on both bandwidth and administrative rules. Other than IETF, ITU, IEEE related works and universities have put strong effort on the issue so far. A considerable number of proprietary solutions of TE are deployed in private networks by leveraging on standard protocols (e.g. RSVP-TE, CR-LDP) and ad-hoc mechanisms/databases. Service-level interworking CAMEL and Parlay group CAMEL Phase 4 was defined as part of 3GPP Release 5 in the 2002. In 2003 the Parlay Group released a new set of web services called Parlay X, followed by Version 2 specifications published in march 2005. Parlay X implementations are being in commercial service since September 2004. Parlay X Web services are a part of the 3GPP Release 6 Specifications.
Service applications The table below reports the state-of-the-art for service applications over seamless networks.
Exhibit 23 Service applications (Today)
Seamless services Standardisation Bodies Standard releases & Deployment
Service level agreement (SLA) Service level agreement The three projects AQUILA, CADENUS and TEQUILA during the FP5 is strictly produced a Joint Deliverable "IST Premium IP Cluster", with related to the activities of the common goal of the Premium IP cluster projects for three European projects: architecture, service and resource management. AQUILA, TEQUILA and CADENUS Authentication, Authorization, The RADIUS Extensions A last version of RADIUS was published in June 2000. and Accounting (AAA) Working Group focuses on DIAMETER succeeds its predecessor RADIUS and was extensions to the RADIUS published in September 2003 and updated in 2007. In protocol. December 2006 RADIUS Prepaid draft was submitted as a The Diameter Maintenance Proposed Standard. and Extensions WG (DIME) Today, the widely used protocol for AAA over IP networks focuses on maintenance and is RADIUS. It is commonly used for embedded network extensions to the Diameter devices such as routers, modem servers, switches, etc... On protocol. the other hand DIAMETER was selected by 3GPP as the AAA standard for IMS in Release 5 (2002).
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New-value added ITU-T and IETF Over the FP5, both H.323 and SIP there have been updated. services/multimedia Today, H.323 still commands the bulk of the VoIP applications deployments in the service provider market for voice transit, especially for transporting voice calls internationally. H.323 is also widely used in room-based video conferencing systems and is the protocol used for IP-based video systems. SIP has, most recently, become more popular for use in instant messaging systems. Moreover, SIP is being adopted by 3GPP as part of the third generation mobile architecture in 2001. Triple play and Quadruple A Focus Group has been Triple play has led to the term quadruple play (or "4play") play established on 2002 under where wireless communications is introduced as another Study Group 16 of the ITU medium to deliver services. In September 2006, Freedom which is responsible for Online, Inc. unveiled the first "all wireless backhaul studies in “Multimedia technology" capable of delivering high bandwidth services, services systems and such as multi-play, without the use of wireline. Several terminals”. TELCOs have implemented a Triple-play platform over their own network to provide telephony, IP-TV and Internet access services.
2.2.4 Safety, security and comfort of use During FP5 time-period, the IEEE 1451 released three standards IEEE 1451.3 (2003), IEEE 1451.4 (2004) and IEEE 1451.5 (2007). In particular, the latter defined a transducer- to-NCAP (Network Capable Application) for wireless transducers. Wireless standards such as 802.11 (WiFi), 802.15.1 (Bluetooth), 802.15.4 (ZigBee) are being considered as some of the physical interfaces. Wireless sensors are increasingly used in wellness and healthcare applications. The current state of the art includes the use of wireless on-body sensors (such as heart rate belts or foot pods) communicating with a wearable user interface (typically, a wrist-top computer) to monitor exercising, and a wearable intelligent social alarm system with a wrist unit including sensors for independent living applications. Yet another advancement in the sensors field is the multivariable sensing capability. The ever-improving processing power of the microprocessors has enabled incorporating different sensing functionality within a single sensor module.
The recent developments in digital technologies and networks as well as the related standards brought Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tags to a price/performance ratio that enabled its deployment at a large cross organizations scale. In 2004, the first cases of consumer good products with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags were shipped to Wal-Mart Stores. This was followed shortly by mandates by the US Department of Defence, Target, and Albertsons. The ISO standards are: ISO 15693 for "Vicinity Cards", (updated in 2006) and ISO 14443, a very popular HF (13.56 MHz) standard, which is being used as the basis of RFID-enabled passports (updated in 2006).
Open source RTOS have been very popular due to the lack of licensing and royalty fees. On the other hand the commercial RTOS market has largely held due to the additional requirements of companies involved in high-security or defence-related design. The latest version of POSIX.1 standard is IEEE Std 1003.1 (2004 Edition) and it was developed by the IEEE Austin Common Standards Revision Group (CSRG). Since 2007, various GNSSs were available and under deployment in all parts of the world: GPS (USA), Galileo (EU), GLONASS (Russia), Beidou (China), IRNSS (India). The availability of middleware, which often means further and advanced networking capability, has grown in importance as more developers have worked on network- enabled or communications-enabled embedded systems.
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Exhibit 24 Topics for Safety Security and Comfort of Use (Today)
Topic Standardisation Bodies Standard releases & Deployment
Multi Agent Systems (MAS) In 2005, the FIPA joined the IEEE computer The wide-spread application of mobile agents has been Society FIPA to the IEEE for agents and retarded so far because of the lack of commonly multi-agent systems. Recently, several accepted standards that cover the most important independent industrial and research groups challenges of mobile agents, that is, code and data have started to pursue the standardisation of relocation, communication and tracking, infrastructure multi-agent technology management, interoperability, and security. MAS design Java Agent DEvelopment Framework or The latest version of JADE is JADE 3.4.1 released in short JADE is a software framework for 2006. multi-agent systems, implemented in Java Real Time applications for Java® Community Process (JCP) The Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) is a set of embedded systems interfaces and behavioural specifications that allow for real-time programming in the Java programming language. RTSJ has been designed to support both hard and soft real-time applications. The first specification launched through the JPC was JSR-1, approved in January 2002 and subsequently updated in 2004, and 2005. Mobile Ad-hoc Network The purpose of the MANET working group The WG has developed two Standards track routing of IETF is to standardize IP routing protocol protocol specifications: functionality suitable for wireless routing • Reactive MANET Protocol (RMP) application within both static and dynamic • Proactive MANET Protocol (PMP) topologies with increased dynamics due to A wide set of protocols have been proposed, but, only node motion or other factors. three protocols were accepted (2003) as experimental IPv6 over Low power WPAN (6LoWPAN) is Request For Comments(RFC), namely a IETF working group that aims to define an • Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) IPv6 over IEEE802.15.4 • Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) • Topology Dissemination Based on Reverse-Path Forwarding (TBRPF). Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 specification for WPAN Networks, submitted in April 2007, defines the basic packet formats and sub-IP adaptation layer for transmission of IPv6 packets over IEEE 802.15.4. Profiling Today, the most well-known and widespread form of tailoring in the private sector is website personalisation. Examples of this type of tailoring are everywhere. When an internet user logs in on sites like Amazon.com or eBay, he will be personally welcomed. Other examples refer to phone services, for both fixed and mobile users, where service can be customized on demand.
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2.3 Likely Key Future Developments
2.3.1 Optical networks Optical communications is today a mature technology: there will be probably further performance improvements and proposals of new devices, perhaps even some breakthrough components, but it is reasonable to state that most of the technological evolutions have been already completed. However, optical transmission will doubtlessly remain in the future the essential resource for the large-bandwidth communication infrastructure. Recently, fibre deployment has slowed down in the core/regional segments, but it is expected to continue in the metro and especially the access segments. Key future developments will likely happen in the optical networking field (how to effectively exploit optical technology), where wide areas with still many open issues require further improvements.
Interoperability is surely one of these areas. Open problems concern the integration of different control-plane technologies: a lot of work has been done to integrate ASON and GMPLS, but more needs to be done; another case concerns integration of ASON/GMPLS with Ethernet-based or IP-router-based networks. Multi-domain coordination (e.g. routing, topology discovery and advertising, signalling-protocol translation, etc.) is far from being completely standardized. Also transport of packets over circuits, multi-layer resilience, multi-layer SLA translation and QoS provisioning should be further investigated.
Another future key issue is the development of techniques for application to directly interface with network control plane. This can be regarded as a key feature especially required for the success of the new automatic transport network models (GMPLS and ASON) developed today. First steps in this direction have already been taken today (see above), but further effort is required to improve effectiveness and generality. Optical networks, especially in the access segment, have been nowadays sided by wireless-based networks, which can offer more limited total bandwidth, but at lower costs and with the advantage of personal mobility. Network convergence, in the sense of easy and effective integration between wireless and optical infrastructure, is another important feature to achieve in the future.
All the above topics are important to allow users to have seamless access to optical network services with the required quality of service. This urgent need is also testified by the interest recently shown by the European NRENs, by the Pan-European research infrastructure (GEANT Project) and by the grid-network world in this topic.
Three other specific topics can be mentioned as key future developments in optical networking: control-plane techniques for optical Ethernet allowing to provide quality of service and easy interoperability with ASON and GMPLS; routing techniques to better exploit optical transparency in switching nodes, taking physical impairment constraints into account in network control; optical access networks (including PONs) reducing access cost and increasing triple-play access penetration among residential users (especially in European countries).
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Finally, an interesting topic open for future developments should be mentioned on the system side: that is, optical interconnects. The main idea is to bring optics “inside the box” by using photonics to implement some subsystems of high-performance switching nodes and routers. Typically, the backplane of the nodes can be optically implemented, overcoming several bottlenecks of electrical wiring. In this framework, short-range high-bit-rate transmission (inter-shelf, inter-board or chip-to-chip) can become the new frontier for research.
2.3.2 Network integration Even though the integration process is advancing in a wide variety of fields, including networks, systems, platforms and services, innovative technologies are expected at short-to mid-term. IP-based devices, architectures and solutions will be deployed almost everywhere. This includes IP over new generation of optical communication infrastructures (e.g. DWDM, G.709) and whatever else wired interface, often by employing MPLS and even its extension GMPLS (Generalized MPLS) for an improved set of capabilities and effectiveness (e.g. Traffic Engineering support). Ethernet in MAN and WAN environments is already substituting ATM/SDH, and this process will continue for several years. Some wireless technologies, such as WiFi and in particular WiMAX (more significantly the mobile version IEEE 802.16e), are likely to spread a lot. Their diffusion must be put in relation to the 3G and 4G systems developments (e.g. HSDPA in UMTS) and success: coexistence is foreseen for several years (in the mid-term at least). It is worthwhile to note that some already employed solutions, in particular for the broadband access, will still play a major role. Because of its simplicity, low cost and easy to deploy properties, xDSL will be again primarily installed and used, together with FTTx solutions. As for short-range communication technologies, both wired (e.g. USB, IEEE 1394) and wireless (e.g. UWB, ZigBee), their adoption will be the result (also) of market policies and will take place separately in specific scenarios. Research will cover different domains (fixed and mobile, access and core) and try to address several issues, such as integration, transition, convergence, mobility and Quality of Service in general.
In terms of standardisation, each working group expects some achievements in the following years: • 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the name given to a project in the Third Generation Partnership Project to enhance the UMTS mobile phone standard to cope with future requirements. The LTE project is not a standard, but it will result in the new evolved releases of the UMTS specification. Release 7 (expected for mid-2007) focuses on decreasing latency, QoS and improvements to real-time applications like VoIP, as well as HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Evolution), SIM high-speed protocol and contactless front-end interface (Near Field Communication enabling operators to deliver contactless services like Mobile Payments) and EDGE Evolution. Release 8 and onward (expected in 2009), regard E-UTRA, All-IP Network (SAE). • It is foreseen that work on the DVB-T2 specification will be completed and passed on to ETSI for standardisation towards the end of 2007 while market deployment is expected for 2009. A study mission on a possible DVB-H2 system is due to commence in 2007 which could produce a finalized specification in 2008. It is not unthinkable that DVB-H2 and DVB-T2 standards will be interrelated systems. A new release of the DVB-S2 specification, including an additional optional interface for interactive services and additional features for mobility, is
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expected around the end of 2007. A new DVB standard, DVB-SH, is foreseen to be published on May of 2008. It is based on a hybrid architecture combining a Satellite Component and, where necessary, a CGC consisting of terrestrial repeaters fed by a broadcast distribution network. • Also for packet switching technologies, further extensions on existing standards are in progress. • At network level, some MPLS evolutions should be standardized at short-term, such as protocol extension for point-to-multipoint connection and optical switching (i.e. GMPLS). • IEEE 802.3av EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) at 10 Gbit/s and IEEE 802.3 HSSG (Higher Speed Study Group) at 100 Gbit/s up to 100 m or 10 km using MMF or SMF optical fiber respectively, are expected in 2009. • IEEE 802.11n, built upon previous 802.11 standards, adds MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output). MIMO uses multiple transmitter and receiver antennas to allow for increased data throughput via spatial multiplexing and increased range by exploiting the spatial diversity, perhaps through coding schemes like Alamouti coding. According to the IEEE 802.11 working group project timelines, the estimated 802.11n publish date is now September 2008. • In the near term, mobile WiMAX will continue to evolve, as additional system profiles and features are defined by the WiMAX Forum to address specific market requirements and opportunities. A more ambitious undertaking is planned in the IEEE 802.16m amendment project which, when chartered, would target future systems beyond IMT-2000 known as IMT-Advanced. The WiMAX Forum considers IEEE 802.16m as the vehicle to support convergence of WiMAX and other mobile technologies. Calling it gigabit WiMAX, the standards-setting organization is intended to develop the new technology standard by the end of 2007 and have it finalized by the end of 2009. • HomePlug Powerline Alliance is addressing HomePlug BPL. There is a working group to develop a specification for to-the-home connection. Also Homeplug HPCC is under study. Command and Control is a low-speed, very low-cost technology intended to complement the alliance's higher-speed powerline communications technologies. The specification will enable advanced, whole- house control of lighting, appliances, climate control, security and other devices. IEEE working group P1901 and IEEE BPL study group are working on standardisation process for MAC and PHY layers. • The 1394 Trade Association approved the new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3, which enables new “Wireless FireWire” product development that will let consumers easily connect wireless electronics components to each other and to the wired home entertainment network. • The UFIR (Ultra Fast Infrared) protocol is in development. It will support speeds up to 100 Mbit/s. About the Next Generation Network, TISPAN is now working on Release 2, with a focus on enhanced mobility, new services and content delivery with improved security and network management. In the end, Next Generation Network represents the most important development in the short and mid periods. NGN is a broad term to describe some key architectural evolutions in the telecommunication core and access networks that will be deployed over the next 5-10 years. The general idea behind NGN is that one network transports all the information and the services (voice, data, and all sorts of media such as video) by encapsulating these into packets, as it happens on the Internet, using a transparent network. This means that this new transport network has to support high speed access (up to 10-100 Mbit/s, on the basis of the specifically issued
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technology), and service quality guarantees and differentiation independently from the type of underline infrastructure (wired or wireless). The next generations of telecommunication networks have to provide ubiquitous network infrastructures and architectures supporting convergence and interoperability of heterogeneous mobile and broadband network technologies. Next generation of wireless networks have to be flexible and spectrum efficient; it is to enable ubiquitous access to broadband mobile services for short range to wide area networking. New convergent networks are envisioned to have ultra high-speed access, end-to-end connectivity with optimised protocols and routing. New generation of network management will support a wide diversity of service attributes and requirements, enabling intelligent distribution of services across multiple access technologies with centralised or distributed control.
From a technological point of view, the NGN will be built around the Internet Protocol (that’s why the term "all-IP" is commonly used), with the support of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and its evolutions (i.e. GMPLS). Quality of Service (QoS) is likely to be provided by the Differentiated Services architecture (possibly integrated and enhanced with MPLS capability), as a scalable solution operating at the common network layer. However, effective QoS mechanisms specific to the transmission interface are required in particular in radio communications, in order to better exploit the available resources and fulfill user requirements. Seamless mobility of any kind is foreseen as well. MIP and technology-based functionality for micro mobility are going to be employed. At application level, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) certainly offers advantages with respect to other options, and can provide support for any type of media transport, leveraging on existing or newly developed, upper and lower layer protocols.
The integration of the networks towards a service-oriented transport network built on the Internet will be influenced by many factors: economic drives, EU and state members’ regulations, and the advent of innovative more flexible network technologies and solutions. The key players in the network market (Telcos, Vendors, and Service Providers) are increasing their investments in the NGN because they would presumably forego the time and expense of implementing any network improvements the future market will require. Moreover, by means of the NGN the said Operators will provide the users with a wider range of advanced and flexible products and services, and likely at a lower cost.
2.3.3 Applications through seamless networks The seamless network evolution, both from a research and a deployment standpoint, is fed by the growth of current services as well as the creation and growth of new services, which must be available for everybody, everywhere, anytime, even on the move and with a wide variety of different devices, including PCs, laptops, PDSs and other handsets . Moreover, users are more and more unaffected by the various technologies involved in delivering services. It is expected that the boundary between the mobile communication and Internet service networks would disappear in the near future, together with all the possible constraints dictated by the actually deployed technologies. In this scenario the access selection shall be based on the functionality specified by IEEE 802.21 (Media Independent Handover, MIH). The MIH shall operate on top of several link layer technologies allowing roaming between 802.11 networks and 3G cellular
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networks. In this way, a further step towards complete integration between the circuit and packet worlds is going to be performed, even for wireless access. The scope of MFA will be to assist vendors and operators in deploying interoperable solutions, developing additional Implementation Agreements and Test Plans addressing some of the other technical issues such as QoS and Security. Interoperability between products, systems and solutions from different vendors and manufacturers, is a fundamental key element to reach a fully integrated globalized market in telecommunications. The same, and adequate, levels of QoS and security everywhere at anytime is becoming more and more a reality.
In the Grid space, rapid consolidation of standards will certainly not happen, because there is no killer Grid application in every institution large and small, private and public that requires relevant standardisation efforts. Applications in such a field are likely to be bound to contingent research interests/projects and some niches (astronomy, physics, etc.).
The future key development for Transparent LAN services will be based on Virtual private LAN service. VPLS is a way to provide Ethernet based multipoint to multipoint communication over IP/MPLS networks. There are two IETF standards describing VPLS establishment, currently in Internet Draft status, but expected to be published as RFCs soon. By such innovations, workers of a given company, geographically distributed, even at an international dimension, can enjoy the benefits of being in a single directly connected network, exploiting common resources and services in a transparent manner. The Service Level Inter-working is evolving to the Parlay X, which APIs define a set of simple-to-use, high-level, telecom-related Web services. Parlay X Version 2.1 specifications are currently in development.
As described in the previous section, today, RADIUS is the de facto standard for dial-up, xDSL, in wireless and mobile networks, and is the typical implementation used to support 802.1x access control management. DIAMETER is the planned RADIUS replacement, but probably RADIUS will remain the preferred choice for no-enterprise solutions, while DIAMETER has been envisioned as AAA standard for IMS in UMTS networks and will be employed with respect to mobile networks where mobile IP, accounting, strong security and billing are needed. As IMS is foreseen a key element of next-generation-networks, widely spread and used, a common infrastructure for managing AAA issues is beneficial for users, with the aim of providing the same service everywhere and at anytime.
Since the adoption by 3GPP, SIP has matured from academic interest into an industrial protocol with potential for wide deployment. One of the future trends in VoIP that has so far eluded the market is the possibility of having complete mobility in terms of making a call: it is still not possible to be ‘on the road’ and make a VoIP call, utilizing other technologies like UMTS or WiMAX. With a considerable deployment of SIP-based solutions for VoIP applications, value-added services, such as videoconfrencing, video streaming, e-learning, e-government, e-justice, are going to be progressively more and more available in a seamless manner. One fundamental aspect of the quadruple play is not only the long awaited broadband convergence but also the players involved. Many of them, from the largest global service providers to whom we connect today via wires to the smallest of startup service providers are interested. The opportunities are attractive: the big three telecom services - telephony, cable television and wireless – (i.e. IPTV, even on the move) could combine
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the size of their respective industries. A clear trend is emerging in the form of fixed and mobile telephony convergence. The aim is to provide both services with a single phone, which could switch between ad hoc networks. Typically, these services rely on Dual Mode Handsets, where the customers' mobile terminal can support both the wide-area (cellular) access and the local-area technology.
2.3.4 Safety, security and comfort of use Current sensor development moves toward increased technical complexity in sensor systems. Smart environments represent the next evolutionary development step in building, utilities, industrial, home, shipboard, and transportation systems automation. Like any sentient organism, the smart environment relies first and foremost on sensory data from the real world. Sensory data comes from multiple sensors of different modalities in distributed locations. In the likely future development of sensor systems, there will be more complex and more sophisticated devices that incorporate dedicated, on-chip signal processing. From a standardisation point of view, the IEEE P1451.6 is under development. It is a transducer and closed-loop controller standard for operation in an intrinsically-safe cascaded network environment with multiple controllers on each level. The network transport layer is a serial CAN (Controller Area Network) bus, which is implemented as an on-board serial interface in a variety of micro controller families and as stand-alone CAN controller chips manufactured by several companies. The application layer may be implemented free of licenses and royalties. The IEEE P1451.6 standard without the intrinsically safe definitions has been implemented in many transducers and closed-loop controllers as a CANopen Device Profile standard under the name DS404 for over ten years. Accordingly, this approach can be regarded as field tested and proven. The IEEE P1451.6 standard further defines an open physical layer as intrinsically-safe and it will the basis for future developments.
Russia’s GLONASS program was accelerated with a goal of global coverage by 2009. The European Union's Galileo positioning system in the initial deployment phase is scheduled to be operational in 2011–12. Galileo is expected to be compatible with the modernized GPS system that will be operational by after 2012. The receivers will be able to combine the signals from both Galileo and GPS satellites to greatly increase the accuracy. From 2008 China’s Beidou will offer open service with an accuracy of 10 meters. India's IRNSS, a next generation GNSS is under development and scheduled to be operational around 2012.
Researchers investigating agent communication languages are going to address three key issues to achieve multi-agent interaction: • A common agent communication language and protocol • A common format for the content of communication • A shared ontology The multi-agent system paradigm promises to be a valuable software engineering abstraction for the development of computer systems. In addition, the wide adoption of the Internet as an open environment and the increasing popularity of machine- independent programming languages, such as Java, make the widespread adoption of multi-agent technology a feasible goal.
Wireless sensor networks represent an emerging set of technologies that will have profound effects across a range of industrial, scientific and governmental applications. IEEE 802.15.4 devices are expected to be deployed in mesh topologies. As such, the
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working group may also elaborate on an informational document to show how to apply an existing MANET protocol to LoWPANs (e.g., AODV, OLSR, DYMO, etc).
2.4 Domain Research Activities
2.4.1 Optical networks Optical network sub-domain encompasses 11 projects, covering an ample range of topics in optical networking (e.g. devices, transmission systems, switching and multiplexing architectures, control-plane and management techniques, network test beds, etc.). The total funding of these projects was almost 35 M€ with an extraordinary relevant average funding per-project compared to the other sub-domains.
The EU research activity in FP5 was pretty well aligned with the world community research and market trends. However, some considerations can be pointed out.
Focus of the research • A substantial part of funding was invested in topics that did not lead so far to significant deployment among network operators. For instance: OTDM techniques (to which two projects were dedicated), transmission systems at extremely high bitrate, RZ systems, all-optical 2R regenerators and wavelength converters, etc. The concept of label switching is now widely applied in optical networks, but only in a digital/wavelength context, i.e. not using labels modulated orthogonally to the data by DPSK (or FSK) modulating the carrier. However at the beginning of FP5 all these topics were intensively studied (as explained in Sec. 1.2.1) and it would have been impossible to predict their unsuccessful deployment. • Limited research and no full project was dedicated to optical packet or burst switching, which are today still far from being deployed, but are nevertheless interesting areas for theoretical and long-term research. • Funded projects resulted different from each other in scope (except two projects both dedicated to OTDM) and quite complementary in covering the several areas of optical networks and all network segments (core, metro and access). This positive feature probably testifies a clear competition in the project-proposal phase and a careful attitude in project selection.
2.4.2 Network integration The network integration sub-domain encompassed several projects, covering a wide variety of technologies, protocols, architectures, systems, platforms and main issues for advanced networking and service support (e.g. Quality of Service, mobility, integration and convergence). About 30 projects were assessed for a total funding of almost 80 M€, a relevant amount compared to all other sub-domains. Also for this sub-domain, the IST-funded research activities in FP5 were pretty well aligned with the world community, research and market trends.
Focus of the research • Concerning wireless technologies, considerable effort was put on satellite systems and less on IEEE 802.x wireless family, such as WLAN, with respect to general trends. Actually, both from a research and a deployment point of view,
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the latter has been a wider development, especially WiFi (i.e. 802.11). This reflects the high interest and diffusion of wireless data access by mobile terminals. While satellite still has peculiarity in their employment, and meets specific targets only. • Some orthogonal issues, such as mobility, voice and data integration, fixed and mobile convergence were addressed in the projects, but there were some lacks in covering all the relevant topics. Limited research was made on mobile protocols or their optimisation, and only few projects focused on solutions for seamless support of both circuit and packet based services (e.g. nothing regarding PSTN and Internet convergence, Media and Signalling Gateways). However, other subdomains (i.e. applications through seamless networks) of broadband and domains of FP5 covered some mobility, wireless and integration issues, as their specific targets. • It is worth mentioning that projects mostly proposed architectural solutions and less single components or protocols, which might be more easily deployed in real life. • As stated, FP5 research activity followed universal trends, even for not successful technologies, such as active networking, which yet hardly find relevant fields of employment (even three projects focused on that.). Another example of this type is about Power Line Communication technology (i.e. 6POWER). • Several projects dealt with Quality of Service, from requirement specification to design and realization of solutions to support it. This has been really a right and well paid back investment.
2.4.3 Applications through seamless networks This sub-domain encompassed several projects focusing on a wide variety of protocols, architectures, systems, platforms and main issues for seamless network, as oriented applications and directly deals with the end-user side. About 10 projects were assessed for a total funding of almost 30 M€: not as relevant as the network integration sub- domain (80 M€), but with intensive research activities.
Focus of the research • Most of the research activities, such as service-level agreement, multi-service networks, transparent LAN services and security, were aligned with the world community research and market trends. Moreover, traffic engineering and service level agreement were fully addressed by EU research, with projects like CADENUS, TEQUILA. With regards to these last issues, state-of-the-art in the field is still strongly based on FP5 achievements. • On the other hand, seamless handover, middleware and signalling protocols, were partially addressed in the broadband domain, as better covered by other domains of FP5. Even if new value added service to develop Home Access Systems were largely issued by the research, some protocols for call signalling have not been deeply considered in broadband domain, because more specific target of other domains. Since the beginning of FP5, there has been a large interest in SIP and H.323 protocols, driven by the market trend of VoIP services, and research activities in the broadband domain, in particular of the applications through seamless network subdomain, have essentially somehow worked on the lower layers (i.e. transport/network and below) with respect to the ISO OSI reference model. • Mobility is an orthogonal aspect, concerning both services and users; it is particularly critical, just keep in mind the seamless network concept. However,
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looking at the mobility regarded projects, research has been made on some issues only, being more specific matter of other domains of FP5.
2.4.4 Safety, security and comfort of use The total funding in this sub-domain (about 10 M€) was not as relevant as in the others, but the activities related to this sub-domain involved less technologies and regarded a smaller set of research topics.
Focus of the research • Sensors and embedded systems were the main issues in this sub-domain. In recent years, especially the wireless sensor technologies and wireless sensor networks have attracted more and more interests from the research communities and the industry. In this domain, however, there were only few projects targeting sensor technologies, sensor scenarios and routing protocol functionality; this was surprising seeing the market trend and even more when taking in account the likely wide deployment that took place in the following years. Actually, the interest of world community in such applications was not completely clear during FP5 period in general. Focused projects, mainly fostered by the needs of practical cases were issued at that time. • The embedded systems were largely supported by research in this domain thanks to the INTERVAL projects, aimed to develop timed extensions for Specification and Description Language (SDL); today, the SDL-2000 is the latest released version completely based on object-orientation, accompanied by a SDL- UML-Profile. • RTOS for home application with modular for plug and play platform and gateway application was partially addressed. • Positioning and navigation systems were not treated by FP5 EU projects in this domain, mainly because there was an ad hoc industry: the European Satellite Navigation Industry, involved in building the GNSS for the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA).
A conclusion of this section is that the research activities funded under FP5 were overall aligned with the world community research and market trends. This was especially the case for the research activities in the optical networks and network integration sub- domains. Research in the applications through seamless networks and the safety, security and comfort of use sub-domains, instead, showed some shortcomings compared to the overall scientific and technological trends, although some dramatic exceptions have been highlighted.
2.5 Key Research Actors and their Involvement in IST-RTD
Key research players in the Broadband sector can be grouped into 4 categories, in line with their specific role:
• Telecom operators and Internet providers, in most cases focused on a national business; in the recent years, they provided telecom services like voice, data, and video; • Vendors of network solutions and systems: in this category the companies are normally very big players with a global business, they provide solutions for different types of networks and are active in much all the world countries.
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• Scientific actors, which are engaged in the medium and long-term research activities. Research players are divided in research institutes and higher education institutes such as the universities. • The standardisation bodies, playing a fundamental role.
It is worthwhile mentioning that some key players belonging to the first two groups often participate to IST-RTD. Some typical examples are: Telefónica, Telecom Italia, Vodafone, Alcatel, Cisco, Motorola, Intracom, etc., as specified in the following sub- sections.
2.5.1 Telecom operators and Internet providers In Europe the most important telecom operators and ISPs are today British Telecom (BT), Deutsche Telekom (DT), France Telecom (FT), Telecom Italia (TI) and Telefónica in Spain.
As is outlined in Section 1.5 and illustrated in Exhibit 13, all of these key European players were heavily involved in the research funded in this domain.
All operators run extensive optical infrastructures, deploying DWDM systems and SDH/OXC switching nodes and Tera-bit IP-Routers interconnect by high-bitrate optical interfaces. Today, all operators are also very interested in interoperability and interface standardisation. Several of them are migrating to GMPLS or ASON control plane. Almost all operators adopt protection techniques in the optical or SDH layers to meet stringent QoS and availability requirements of their customers. Also several smaller operators, hardly involved in FP5, running high-capacity metro-ring OADM-based networks use optics. In Italy, Fastweb has been the first operator massively deploying optical fibers in the access network and launching triple play service over IP network of voice, data and TV (also over ADSL). PON-based access deployment has already occurred in some countries (for instance in Japan by NTT) and some operators are currently evaluating the economical feasibility of adopting such technology.
Non-commercial (not-for-profit) operators such as the NRENs should also be mentioned as important users of optical networks, often open to migration to advanced solutions. Most of them starting from a leased-line network, have now their own independent fiber backbone, thanks to the relatively low cost of WDM. In Europe, in particular, the NREN consortium DANTE operates the international infrastructure GÉANT (now GÉANT2), which completely relies upon self-owned fibers and is now adopting GMPLS control-plane technology. The Canadian CANARIE network should also be mentioned, being a not-for-profit operator deploying very advanced optical network equipment and concepts. Operators, and in particular NRENs, are not only important as technology users, but also as advanced-application testers, involved in FP5 activities when located in Europe.
Regarding NGN architectures, BT has started its 21CN project since 2004 and plans to complete migration by 2011. All telecom operators have started to introduce support to the VoIP using IMS architecture and are now ready to launch VoIP on the market. In the mobile world, H3G launched UMTS in Europe as first pioneer. Operators already in the 2G business are slowly migrating to the 3G only for the data service whereas they want to save previous network investments. The Japanese NTT Docomo, which was first in the world to deploy 3G network, now focuses on 4G, where value-added
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applications and services are deployed and can sometimes quite quickly spread to Europe and overseas countries.
As for applications, it is also worthwhile to mention the role of most important US Service Providers (e.g. Verizon, AOL), which are often pioneers of innovative applications, over both wired and wireless technologies, usually involving multimedia traffic, such as video. Some killer applications can even foster the research world in the field, due to their dramatic impact and involved turnover. Skype from eBay, YouTube by Google and peer-to-peer applications in general are just some popular examples. Mobile operators (e.g. NTT-DoCoMo) are more focused on 4G.
2.5.2 Vendors of network solutions and systems In the Vendor category we can outline the role of Alcatel and Siemens. These companies have primary importance, especially in Europe, as manufacturers of high- capacity opto-electronic switching systems (often a combination of SDH and OXC) and optical transmission systems for the transport network but also as telecom equipment suppliers more largely.
Both key actors have participated to several projects of FP5, and with profitable results which improved their worldwide competitiveness, as confirmed and discussed in the S/T impact analysis. As is outlined in Section 1.5 and illustrated inExhibit 13, at corporate group level, Alcatel/Lucent and Siemens were the first two main beneficiaries of EC funding in the broadband domain.
Alcatel is the biggest European competitor with a long story in the telephone networks; since the first years of the new century, it has been moving fast towards new generation of equipment based on new packet processing approach instead of old synchronous switching matrix. The globalisation process, taking place at any extent in business, acquisitions by major enterprises is pretty common. An example is the recent joining between Alcatel and Lucent, for an enhanced portfolio of products and services. Alcatel has been also considerably involved in standardisation, mainly in ITU (from its former scope in circuit-switched networking) and more recently in IETF. In the latter, Alcatel has been more specifically involved in protocols and issues where its new line of packet-switched products are being promoted (e.g. MPLS and Traffic Engineering).
Also the important role of switch and router vendors (e.g. Cisco, Juniper) should be underlined, given the importance of IP and Ethernet in optical networking. Juniper in particular was among the first adopters of MPLS and then GMPLS in its equipment. Cisco, the leader of the Internet appliances (routers and switches) with a market share of nearly 70% worldwide and about 90% in the US, is also strongly involved in standardisation (IETF in particular), therefore with a dramatic contribution in network protocols and applications. Its affiliate, Cisco Photonics, is dedicated to optical transport network equipment (DWDM rings). Cisco has also partecipated to some FP5 projects, although at a lower extent with respect to Alcatel and Siemens. This is due to the fact that its main headquarter is in the US, where the major part of research activities are still performed. Pirelli should also be mentioned as vendor of metro optical systems (CWMD and DWDM), as well as the newcomer on Western markets Huawei and the Canadian Nortel. ECI Telecom in Israel is a network-equipment vendor playing an important role in the metro-Ethernet market, and has been involved in various European research
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projects. Corning should also be mentioned as the major producer of optical fibers in the world.
All of these major vendors were involved in research of any kind in the optical networks sub- domain and intensively contributed to standardisation, especially in ITU-T and in OIF. We can outline also the role of Marconi (now Ericsson), Nortel and Avaya, in the domain on seamless networks.
In the mobile world, other very big players are Ericsson and Nokia. Both these vendors in the last years moved from traditional circuit switched systems to packet switched system with the support to the IMS architecture, which definition is ongoing at the 3GPP. Both Ericsson and Nokia were involved in the research funded in this domain by the EU.
We can point out that the market segmentation in networking is rapidly disappearing due to the integration and convergence process we are witnessing today. However, some players contribute to very specific product developments. A very innovative contribution in the short range networks comes from Intel, the leader in the Wireless LAN network based on IEEE 802.11 and likely in near future also on 802.16 standards with its Centrino architecture for the laptops. Intel carries out its research activities mainly in the US, therefore it has been hardly involved in EU funded activities in general. Regarding the grid technologies, we outline the role of Sun Microsystems, HP and IBM, with several projects in place, also EU funded. Among vendors of RTOS embedded systems, there are: Wind River Systems, Windows, Monta Vista, QNX Software Systems. In 1999 Wind River acquired one of their major competitors, Integrated Systems Inc., maker of pSOS. Wind River has since then discontinued the pSOS product line and has recommended existing pSOS customers transition to VxWorks. By acquiring the real-time Linux (RTLinux) assets from FSMLabs, Wind River resolved a key gap in its embedded and real-time product lines. Previously, Wind's real-time offering (VxWorks) was not Open Source and its Linux products had no options for real-time responsiveness.
2.5.3 Scientific actors In the scientific category we find research institutes that may or may not be publicly funded. Universities that are most active in optical networks in Europe comprise: Univ. College London (UK), Univ. of Glasgow (UK), Univ. of Essex (UK), National Technical Univ. of Athens (NTUA, GR), Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC, SP), Politecnico di Torino (IT), Università di Bologna (IT), Institut National des Telecommunications (FR), Technische Univ. Delft (NL), Technische Univ. Eindhoven (NL), Univ. of Ghent (BG), Technical Univ. of Denmark (DTU, DK), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, SW), Technical Univ. Berlin (GE), Stuttgart University (GE), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Switz.). The École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST, FR) and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (IT) are other academic institutions deeply involved in optical network projects, some of which EU funded by FP5 (indications about a more precise degree of involvement in broadband domain projects are provided in the impact analysis chapters). As research centers (in Europe), let us mention the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (GE) and the smaller Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC, SP) and Fondazione Ugo Bordoni (IT) for their key role in European research projects on optical networks and
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technology. Outside Europe, one should mention, in the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Univ. of California at Davis (UCD), Univ. of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Princeton Univ., North Carolina State University, State Univ. of New York at Buffalo (SUNY), Columbia Univ., University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Outside Europe and not in the U.S.: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Univ. of Campinas (Brazil), Kejo Univ. Tokio (Japan). Universities outside Europe have not been directly involved in FP5 activities.
As for the development of integrated solutions, the most important European institute is in Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute; it has been involved in many EU projects in this domain.
Another example of such institutes is VTT (practically, the research centre of Nokia) in Finland highly active in IST-RTD for several years. Outside EU, therefore not issued by EU contributions for research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a big research centre that produces many innovations in the network fields too. Regarding higher education institutes, we could consider various US universities, where pioneers and founders of innovative protocols and network solutions in general, mostly about IP-based packet switching, are working hard. Just to make an example, Columbia University in New York can count on Professor H. Schulzrinne, one of the fathers of IPv6 and SIP protocols, which are going to revolutionise the network architecture (i.e. all-IPv6 based infrastructures and IMS). Such institutions leverage funding out of the EU. In Europe, the leadership on DVB is also due to the contribution of Professor B U. Reimenrs, who is now working at the Raunschweig Technical University in Germany (which was not involved in FP5 research activities)..
As for applications over seamless networks, the most significant contributors to EU projects were the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany and the National Technical University of Athens, both already mentioned.
Research institutions, universities, etc. provide also a significant contribution on issues related to security and comfort of use, and several services (e.g. mobility management, environment monitoring, healthcare and location-based services) are proposed, designed, developed and stimulated by them. There are several examples of their participations to EU funded project (e.g. Rheinische- Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitaet Bonn in Germany and Universite Joseph Fourier Grenoble in France).
2.5.4 Standardisation bodies ITU, ETSI, IEE and IETF are the most important players in standardisation. IEEE covers data link technologies, both fixed and mobile, including integration (e.g. mobility) issues (802.x family specifications). IETF with its scores of WGs deals with all the concepts related to IP networking and more. Finally, ITU and ETSI are the European Standardisation Bodies responsible for a wide variety of standards and guidelines. At first, more focused on circuit-switching technologies (e.g. SDH) and more recently on packet networking (ITU is strongly committed in NGN topics with study groups specifically established for the purpose). Of course, 3GPP and 3GPP2 are without any doubt the main contributors for mobile cellular system evolutions (3G networks and beyond).
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The already mentioned ITU-T, IETF, IEEE and OIF are the most important standardisation bodies involved in the definition of standards for optical networks. It should be mentioned in particular that OIF is also actively promoting interoperability by organizing a periodic world-wide interoperability event in which optical transport- network nodes produced by different vendors and deployed in network domains of different operators all over the world are connected on the control-plane (through standard UNI and NNI interfaces) to demo the seamless set-up on-demand of trans- world connections. Other relevant standardisation bodies are: Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), for the increasing importance of Ethernet and of metro optical networks, and Open Grid Forum (OGF) for the impact that such demanding applications as the grids have on the transport network.
ETSI and IEEE have also supported guidelines for RTOS, in particular the IEEE with the development of POSIX, which defines a standard way for an application to interface to the operating system. The Real-time and Embedded Systems Forum is involved in providing compliant POSIX real-time certification. The main actors for MAS systems are fora, like OMG’s MASIF and FIPA. There is an increasing interest on routing protocols for MANET solutions, supported by IETF working groups.
As was mentioned in the previous Section 2.4, several projects funded in this Domain set up collaborations with standardisation bodies, and more specifically ITU-T and IETF. This is also true for fora that showed a relevant participation by Network Operators and Vendors strongly involved in FP5 projects.
An overall conclusion to this Section is that the projects funded under FP5 in this Domain involved most of the key research actors in Europe; this needs to be interpreted as an indication of both the potential quality of the scientific and technological activities to be conducted in these projects and the high alignment of the research in this domain with the scientific and industrial interests and needs.
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3 Economic and social environment
3.1 Definition of Broadband
We will first begin by defining Broadband technologies. This is not as simple as it first looks as Broadband is associated with speed rates and speed rates are continuously increasing. Indeed, talking about a precise rate or specific services that are available through Broadband would not be correct as those two criteria have considerably evolved over the last ten years. The definition of Broadband technologies could be linked to technical solutions that are used to provide Internet access at higher speeds than those provided by dial-up technologies. According to ITU, Broadband is related to transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN (1.5 or 2 Mbps), whereas OECD defines Broadband rate as being higher than 256 Kbps. Other definitions consider that Broadband is directly associated with applications (entertainment, health care, commercial or government applications, …) that can be provided via specific technologies, while bearing in mind that the speed rate will continue to increase and that a high speed rate today will be a standard then a low speed rate tomorrow. In this analysis, as it concerns the "birth and development" of Broadband, we will consider Broadband technologies as being technical solutions used to provide Internet access at over 256 Kbps in the last mile to end users.
3.2 The Economic and Social Environment at the Beginning of FP5
3.2.1 Birth of Broadband commercial offers Broadband technologies over PSTN (DSL technologies) began to be tested by operators in the mid 90's (even earlier in Asia), while narrowband Internet access started to be generalized to business and residential customers. First tests (1994-1996 in the UK, 1996- 1997 in main European countries and in the USA) mainly covered small and dense areas and their first objective was to clarify technical characteristics. At the same time, few Broadband connections based on the cable modem were available as cable modem operators (cablecos) had to upgrade their infrastructure to provide a bidirectional solution. In 1998, 0.3% of worldwide Internet users had a Broadband connection, that is to say less than 600,000 Broadband users worldwide. At that time, the gap was already wide between one region and another as well as between one country and another in the same region. In Europe for instance, the rate of development of Broadband differed a lot between Scandinavian countries and southern and eastern countries.
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Exhibit 25 Broadband subscriber among Internet users worldwide from 1995 to 2002
In millions, worldwide
700 Internet subscribers 10.7% 600 Broadband subscribers 7.4%
500 % of Broadband among Internet 4.0% users 400
1.4% 300
0.3% 200 0% 0% 100 0%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Source: IDATE, according to ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database
First "high speed" offers were at 256 or 512 Kbps download. This has very rapidly increased and Internet subscribers could avail of for 2 Mbps via ADSL from the year 2000 in some countries.
Exhibit 26 Breakdown of access technologies among residential customers (at mid-2003)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% France Germany Italy Netherlands Spain Sw eden Sw itzerland UK
PSTN access (56 Kbps or less) ISDN ac c es s Broadband access (DSL or cable modem)
Source: IDATE, "Broadband markets" – 2004 edition
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Of course, Broadband solutions for business customers and big companies were already available, but not based on the cable modem or on DSL technologies. Indeed, companies needing specific speed rates could subscribe to dedicated solutions from service providers and telecom operators, mainly based on leased lines or ISDN. These services have been available for many years now. The arrival of new technical solutions led to price pressure on those types of services, especially services dedicated to small businesses: it became rapidly less expensive for such companies to subscribe to a DSL offer in order to replace their previous leased lines and more beneficial to have a DSL access than an ISDN access.
International disparities Broadband first appeared in Asia, and South Korea rapidly became the main Broadband market in the world, in terms of Broadband penetration. This situation was partly due to the involvement of the Korean government whose pro-active policies, particularly the KII (Korean Information Infrastructure) project, enabled a plethora of networks and equipment to develop. To become one of the leading countries in terms of Broadband access, it was considered necessary to promote new types of connections. From a practical point of view, Korea decided that all Internet users would avail of over 2 Mbps connections within a few years. The different measures taken by the government quickly created favourable conditions, regarding for instance household's equipment: at the end of 2002, around 76% of Korean households were PC-equipped.
South Korea: national Broadband policies and reasons of success
From the end 80's, different national policies have been elaborated in Korea in order to develop the Information Society: - 1987 to 1992: Korea backbone computer project - 1987 and 1999: PC distribution campaigns - 1995 to 2010: KII project - 1998 to 2002: Cyber-Korea 21
The Korea Information Infrastructure (KII) project was defined as the best way to enforce the national competitiveness. The government decided then to take over the risk possibly resulting from large-scale investment at the initial stage. Therefore, with its previous experience, the government considered it could help the private sector to migrate smoothly to the information society. Concretely, the authorities decided to construct an IP common network (based on wireline and wireless technologies) and to upgrade ATM switching network at the same time. The objective was to complete the project by 2010, for an investment reaching 28.5 billion USD for construction. In 2000, the project was revised and the deadline to meet was fixed in 2005 in order to answer more rapidly to the higher demand (the increase in Internet users was higher than expected).
Broadband key success factors are multiple. Firstly, the commitment of the government has contributed a lot to guide the market players who, even backed by large industrial groups, could then play an important role; regulatory measures, in particular the early introduction of local loop unbundling, had a strong impact on the involvement of alternative operators (see § 3.2.2). Secondly, national characteristics such as the high density of population (50% of Korean live in apartments which allows operators to provide services to a large amount of people without deploying networks in large areas), cultural aspects (preference of new technology and premium quality) were fundamental. Then of course, the marketing was a major key factor: aggressive marketing promotion associated to predatory pricing behaviour have conducted to high speed access tariffs cheaper than in any other country.
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In Japan, the rate of development of Broadband market was really higher than that of fixed Internet penetration. Since 2002, the number of DSL access lines grew heavily and, consequently, Japan became the world leader in terms of DSL lines number during the second half of 2003. At that time, Japan was already the country offering highest speed- rates (8 to 12 Mbps) at lowest costs (around 20 USD). Before 2002, high speed Internet was mainly provided via the cable modem but this technology never enjoyed the same success as DSL, principally because of higher tariffs for end users.
In the USA, the situation is really different as the main Broadband technology is the cable modem. In the late 1990's, cable modem infrastructures were already adapted to the provision of Broadband services. In 1998, one of the main cablecos, @HomeNetwork (subsidiary of AT&T at that time), provided unlimited Internet access via the cable modem for 29.95 to 49.95 USD per month (depending on geographical area). ADSL offers were much more expensive: for instance, Flashcom provided a 1.5 Mbps ADSL solution for 339 USD per month! The gap in tariffs between both technologies and the large existing base of CATV subscribers easily explain the advance taken by cablecos in the Broadband marketplace. Nevertheless, from the end of 2002, significant cuts in DSL prices have convinced Internet users to subscribe to such offers and the gap between DSL and cable modem technologies has decreased.
In Canada, a National Broadband Task Force was set up in the early 2000s with a first objective of achieving basic broadband access by 2004. In September 2002, a specific programme, "The Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Pilot Program" was launched in order to achieve a 100% broadband coverage throughout the Canadian population. It is a $105 million capital fund that supports Canadian communities in the development and implementation of business plans for the deployment of broadband infrastructure. A priority is placed on communities facing geographic and socio- economic barriers to broadband access, such as Aboriginal, northern, rural and remote communities. The pilot programme further encourages the private sector to take a lead role in partnership with the communities to deploy the broadband infrastructure. A total of 217 projects have been selected covering more than 3,000 communities.
On the other hand, the European Broadband marketplace is the newest when compared with the four others. When DSL solutions had just begun to be commercialised (around 1999), Broadband via the cable modem was available only in a few geographical areas. No harmonized Broadband strategy had been established yet and incumbents mainly controlled the market.
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Exhibit 27 Broadband subscriber bases in Western Europe6, 2000-2005
70 16%
60 14%
12% 50 10% 40 8% 30 6% 20 4%
10 2%
0 0% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Subscribers (millions) Density (per 100 inhabitants)
Source: IDATE, "Unbundling in Europe" - 2006 edition
European disparities Scandinavian countries have always been leaders in terms of new technologies. This is true for mobile telephony as well as for Broadband. Even if Scandinavian governments were heavily involved, private companies have played the main role in the deployment of new infrastructures and in the definition of new applications and services. For example, Telia was the first European incumbent to market ADSL connections in October 1998. This offer was firstly offered to business users and became available for residential users during the summer of 1999. At that time, Telia already considered that ADSL would be available for all Swedish Internet users in the following ten years. This objective seemed reasonable as, in Sweden, 90% of the population live at less than 3 km from the local exchange: one of the main technical constraints of ADSL, the length of the local loop, is therefore less of a restriction. Elsewhere in Europe, incumbents have also tested the technology before providing any commercial offer. Generally, all European incumbents had marketed ADSL connections from 1999-2000.
Exhibit 28 Year of first commercial DSL offer by incumbent in main European countries
DSL offer of incumbent operator Country or its ISP subsidiary Germany 1999 Belgium 1999 Denmark 2000 France 1999 Sweden 1998 United Kingdom 2000 Source: IDATE
On their part, alternative operators also decided to get rapidly involved in the Broadband market. But the main obstacle they had to overcome was access to the local loop of the incumbent.
6 Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
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3.2.2 Regulatory actions in favour of Broadband This leads us to the major drawbacks encountered by telecom operators when providing Broadband to end-users. Local loop unbundling (LLU) is certainly one of the most significant. The European Commission recommended that unbundling should be available in Europe by the 1st of January 2001. Indeed, without local loop unbundling, competitors had to subscribe to business offers (on access or backbone networks) from the incumbents, which had a direct impact on tariffs for end users. In some countries, LLU was implemented before the EC Regulation came into force: Finland (1996), Denmark (1998), Germany (1998), Austria (1998), Sweden (2000) and the Netherlands (2000). In other countries, such as in France, the debate on unbundling was long and hindered the development of DSL technologies in the first years. Nevertheless, national consultations and trials have been organized to prepare for LLU and then, it became available during 2001. Those countries include Italy, France, the UK, Belgium and Spain. Then, in a third group of Western European countries (Luxembourg, Ireland, Greece, Portugal), no national decision had been taken on time. Therefore, LLU was delayed to end 2001 or even later in those countries. After the opening up of the telecommunications market, which allowed new players to provide their services, the role of national authorities became fundamental in ensuring a really competitive marketplace for alternative operators, especially regarding Broadband access via DSL technologies as they were dependent on facilities and infrastructures owned by incumbents. Some governments decided to be directly involved in the deployment of new technological solutions (financial participation, or construction and operation of networks) whereas, in most countries, their role consisted in defining the public policy objectives, among which, ensuring that everyone could rapidly have access to Broadband at an affordable tariff, was one of the most important. But expecting liberalization only to create a competitive environment was unrealistic: in 2002, that is to say at least 2 years after the emergence of Broadband commercial offers in Western Europe, incumbents still controlled more than 80% of the Broadband market, even if the market was not so significant at that time. For most governments, establishing the right policies controlled by the right institutions was the best way to encourage new players to invest in Broadband market. With this in mind, the governments of many countries have imposed network access obligations on the incumbent operator. This was in line with European Union recommendations, and this is also true for other countries (USA, Japan). The introduction of regulatory unbundling requirements is based on the argument that the local loop constitutes an essential facility in terms of competition rights. In the mind of regulators, the purpose of broadband regulation is to establish balanced competition among players and especially with the incumbent operator in the residential DSL market: • Internet service providers (ISPs) must be able to offer DSL subscriptions rivalling those of the incumbent operator or its subsidiary under conditions of fair competition and economic viability; • With the use of unbundling, operators must be able to provide ISPs with access solutions rivalling the bitstream access offers of the incumbent operator.
The task of the regulator is therefore to promote competition simultaneously at collection and access level. Measures in favour of unbundling are part of a policy aimed at developing competition in the access market. The regulator must remain alert to the
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price scissors or price squeeze phenomenon and, in particular, monitor the level of consistency between bitstream offers and unbundling offers. Regarding only unbundling offers, two possibilities were proposed to competitors: full unbundling (access of the full line, voice and data, for competitors) and shared unbundling (competitors having only access to the "data" line). At the end of 2002, LLU, either full or shared, had been adopted in 58 countries.
Exhibit 29 Operational and regulatory implementation of unbundling in selected European countries
DSL offer Country Unbundling Act on unbundled line Germany 1997 1999 Belgium 2000 2001 Denmark 1998 2000 France 2000 2001 United Kingdom 2000 2001 Source: IDATE
The impacts of unbundling differed from one country to another. Even if the success of such a measure is undeniable, it took sometimes more time than expected. In Japan, LLU has been available from 1997. But the incumbent NTT, divided in NTT East and West, delayed its implementation and the intervention of the regulator became necessary in order to set fair prices for competitors. In 2000, unbundling tariffs were lowered and the regulator imposed a timeframe for unbundling. Then, from end 2000, unbundling increased largely in Japan (from 70,655 ADSL subscribers at end 2000 to 6,590,000 in January 2003) and, two years after, in January 2003, competitors controlled 70% of the Broadband DSL market, mainly by using LLU. In Europe, LLU impact on the number of subscribers and on competitors positioning was less marked as, by March 2003, European incumbents still controlled 80% of the DSL Broadband market and DSL services provided over LLU accounted for 4.7% of DSL lines. This situation is mainly due to LLU tariffs that were still very high compared to LLU tariffs in Japan (for instance in the UK, they were more than four times higher than in Japan).
3.2.3 Usage of Broadband The arrival of Broadband did not radically change the usage of the Internet in its first months. Indeed, as with narrowband technologies, web browsing and communications via email continued to be the main applications, at least for residential users. Nevertheless, those usages have increased as Broadband brought "always-on" connectivity and larger files could be attached to email. Moreover, new applications emerged, such as voice over IP services (that compete with traditional telephony, particularly for long distance and international calls) or entertainment services. Technical advances brought about by Broadband (mainly less latency) have largely improved such services. Therefore, applications such as online gaming or video solutions became more generalized amongst Internet users. Regarding business usage, Broadband has contributed to the generalization of e- commerce, teleworking (keeping in contact while not in the office rapidly became necessary for "nomadic workers"), video conferencing… One of the biggest impacts of
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affordable Broadband connections was that projects, earlier considered as too expensive, could then be developed and implemented, such as e-commerce, etc.
Then, on a wider scale, governments planned to develop public services in order to generalize them to the population: education online, health online, e-government… In addition to the generalization of services, Broadband technologies are seen as a way to make substantial economies for governments. Indeed, in some cases, a Broadband connection could be used to replace a more expensive leased line connection. But more generally, national authorities consider that public services over Broadband would provide more benefits in the long term: e-health and e-education can be used to reach remote population that would not be otherwise. Of course, such services cannot be provided without adapted infrastructures, which is why, in most cases, first involvements by authorities concerned the development and operation of new networks in order to reach a larger population. Then, in a second phase, other initiatives became necessary to enhance Internet use for public services. Scandinavian countries were still precursors in that domain (see presentation below). Even though those projects were not designed to promote Broadband, the authorities concluded that Broadband was necessary to improve such services and to make them more broadly available to the population.
Examples of public actions in Scandinavia
Right from 2000, the Swedish government adopted an administrative-policy action programme, named "Public Administration in the Service of Democracy". Its objective was to make public administration more user-friendly and more efficient. Globally, Sweden already considered that as long as technical and economical conditions were met, all public services that could be provided online should be done so. Regarding online education, the Ministry of Education established the "Distum" program in July 1999 aimed at supporting the development and use of ICT in distance education.
In Norway, the program eNorway, firstly adopted in June 2000, described actual initiatives in the individual ministries. When looking at education in particular, school authorities implemented a 2000-2003 program, called "ICT in the multicultural schools", to meet some specific challenges, amongst which ensuring that ICT became one of the five basic skills integrated in the school curriculum.
In Finland, a new patient ID card scheme was developed in cooperation between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Technology Development Center. The card was scheduled to be available from autumn 1999 and was designed to allow patients to access personal data via the Internet.
In the meantime, the European Commission launched the eEurope initiative to ensure the European Union fully benefits for generations to come from the changes the Information Society is bringing. One major key action line was dedicated to broadband developments to provide fast access to the Internet at cheap prices, mainly through telephone lines (DSL) or cable but also using wireless technologies (3G mobile phones, WiFi) and even satellite. Cheaper prices were to be guaranteed by a proper implementation of the Telecom Package.
Besides infrastructure objectives, the eEurope action plans aimed at improving security (for electronic transactions), promoting e-inclusion (to make networks and services available to the largest number of people) and e-services in the different socio-economic domains (e-government, e-learning, e-health, e-business).
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The eEurope programme
By end 1999, the European Commission launched the eEurope initiative. The first objective was to bring Europe online. Indeed, it was considered to be the crucial time for the European Union to act in order to fully exploit the potential of "new economy" as it was called in 2000, and then to transform the digital information into economic and social value. Moreover, European Union members found important that all countries act together in partnership in order to shape Information Society towards European values, principles and strengths. By mid-2000, goals and actions were clearly defined in the "eEurope 2002" programme. More precisely, several objectives were organised in 3 categories and were planned to be achieved via 3 main methods:
- The categories of actions: i) a cheaper, faster and secure Internet * cheaper and faster Internet access * faster Internet for researchers and students * secure networks and smart cards ii) investing in people and skills * European youth into the digital age * working in the knowledge-based economy * participation for all in the knowledge-based economy iii) stimulate the use of the Internet * accelerating e-commerce * government online: electronic access to public services * health online * European digital content for global networks * intelligent transport systems
- The methods to achieve the goals and create a favourable context: i) accelerating the setting up of an appropriate legal environment ii) supporting new infrastructure and services across Europe iii) applying the open method of co-ordination and benchmarking The initial timeframe of the program was 2002. At that time, all the targets were to be achieved so that Europe would not be left behind in terms of connectivity.
The programme eEurope 2005 is the natural continuity of the first one. After generalising connectivity throughout Europe, it became necessary to ensure its translation into economic activities. More precisely, the aim of eEurope 2005 is to "stimulate services, applications and content that create new markets and reduce costs, and eventually increase productivity throughout the economy". Broadband is clearly identified as one of the main driver for reaching such an objective as it is transforming the Internet and opening up new possibilities for interactive multimedia services.
In conclusion, Broadband pushed the arrival of new applications. But its main impact was that it gave rise to an increase in existing usages of the Internet that led to more time spent online and more spending on communication services. In Korea, Canada, and the USA, a correlation between broadband connection rates and increased monthly telecom spending as well as time spent online quickly became evident. As it was easier for Internet users to have access to online applications and to download content, the context became more conducive to the creation of new contents and new applications.
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3.3 The Economic and Social Environment Today
Several years after the advent of Broadband, even if emailing is still dominant, new applications have appeared and become essential for most Internet users. Some of them were not even imagined a few years ago and their success was a surprise for a lot of analysts, mainly on the residential market.
• For instance, peer-to-peer, also known as P2P, now represents approximately 65% of Internet traffic and around 80% of upstream capacity7. Of course, P2P must not only be seen as a "consumer-to-consumer" communication service: it is also used between companies and customers as well as between companies themselves, for instance to facilitate content distribution in the case of Content Delivery Networks.
Exhibit 30 Increase of P2P usage
Source : CacheLogic – P2P in 2005
Exhibit 31 P2P penetration rate amongst Broadband subscribers
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings – Service Mega Panel 2005
7 In most cases, P2P referred to unauthorized downloads but legal P2P solutions are more and more numerous
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• Instant Messaging (IM) is also one of the most used applications for residential users. In 2005, Instant Messaging services accounted for 867 million active subscriptions and 250 million active users (nearly 1 out of 2 Internet users in most developed countries). 12.5 billion messages are sent via IM every day in the world (in comparison with 2 billion SMS sent every day). With technological advances, most IM software now integrate specific options such as file exchange, streaming video or video conferencing between users. Due to the success of IM amongst residential customers, Internet players are beginning to think about providing advanced IM services for business users, including greatest security and groupware solutions for instance.
• Blogs are another very successful kind of service that has been enhanced by generalization of Broadband. Initiated by residential users, blogs are now also used by business or even political or associative users to communicate regularly on their activities or any other subject. The real expansion of blogs occurred in 2005: in December 2005 there were around 70 million blogs worldwide.
Today, all "inter-personal" communication solutions are now considered to be basic. Moreover, the number of Internet users is still growing and the public is getting younger and more "techno-addicted". This has a direct impact on the content production which has become exponential and which is often developed with Internet in mind.
Apart from residential usages, public initiatives are now beginning to bear fruit. In all Western European countries, there are now e-health and/or e-learning services available for every citizen.
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Examples of e-administration services in Western European countries
Government Gateway, UK Two main portals have been developed in the UK to help citizens access public online services. The Government Gateway is a centralised registration portal for all e-government services. Every citizen that registers to this portal is assigned a personal user ID or digital certificate. Such an ID allows citizens to communicate and make transactions with government from a single point of access. Even if there are still flaws (fixed font size, no alternative text tags to spacer images,…), the portal is very secure. The DirectGov portal, created in May 2004, was established in order to give citizens the possibility to access to all national and local government services from a unique site. Besides bringing information from across many departments in one portal, it includes extensive content for all categories of citizens (motorists, parents, people with disabilities).
Spanish eGovernment plan Spain is among the ten most advanced European countries in e-government services and infrastructures. The supply of e-government for Spanish citizens is mainly focused on information services: information on jobs and unemployment benefits from the National Institute of Employment, information on family allowances and health insurance from the Spanish Social Security, passport and driving licence information from the Ministry of Interior, possibility to download and send applications for students from the Ministry of Education… The most sophisticated service is proposed by the Tax Agency: via a virtual office, citizens can access an online submission and assessment system. Main barriers to the expansion and efficiency of e-government services are the low level of Internet access among the population and Spanish citizens' distrust of the Internet. Efforts have been made by the government to improve the situation, such as the definition and implementation of a national eGovernment plan in 2003. Within a two-year framework, this plan has four strategic goals: enlarge and facilitate access to online public services for all citizens, develop interactive and transactional services that meet users requirements and needs, facilitate exchange of information between administrations, be they local, regional or national, and support the back-office re-organisation of public administrations. Nevertheless, there are still gaps and barriers to overcome and a more robust strategy has to be quickly adopted so that e-government services become more efficient.
The Austrian e-governement strategy Austria is one of the leading European countries in terms of number and depth of eGovernment services: 70% of government services have been available online since 2004. Different reasons can explain such a success for e-government in Austria: - there is a long tradition of formalised administration - ICT usage and equipment are well developed among local authorities - the small size of the country and its administration is an advantage in terms of fast decision- making - online services are seen as more efficient than face-to-face for a majority of citizens - the high reliability and ease-of-use of information services will probably facilitate the acceptance of future services. On the other hand, there are still lacks in the provision of online services. On of the most important is related to identification: indeed, specific transactional services require online identification that most users cannot provide because it requires electronic ID cards that are not generalised yet.
However, a question remains: was it Broadband that led to the increase in the number of Internet users and new applications, or, conversely, was it an increase in the number of Internet users that led to the development of new needs requiring Broadband to be satisfied?
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Even in the first days of Broadband, operators and service providers continued to focus on the definition of new offers, be they commercial or technical. New commercial offers, such as Triple Play, which included Internet access, telephony and television, had a direct impact on the success of Broadband. In France, where they first appeared, Triple Play offers at 10 to 20 Mbps are now available for an average of 30 euros per month. Such bundled offers allow operators, on the one hand, to stabilise ARPU which had been on the decline in the access segment and, on the other, to cement customer loyalty. Some operators are reporting a churn rate among their triple play subscribers that is 10% lower than for their subscriber base as a whole. The introduction of triple play bundles nevertheless varies in degree from country to country. If the relationship between telcos and broadcasters begins to become clear in Europe (France, Italy), the situation is the United States is more complex, given the already privileged relationship that the cable industry enjoys with Hollywood, and especially in Japan where there continue to be issues preventing broadband operators from offering the leading terrestrial TV channels.
But when all the players present on the market could provide such offers, they had to find new ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. And in general, this was through new value-added communications and content services, reduction of DSL or cable modem access tariffs or increased speed rates. Regarding access tariffs, the price of DSL access subscriptions has dropped substantially over the past few years. The trend has become less marked since mid-2005 and from that time it became common to offer a faster service for the same price. Operators that were apparently most aware of technological evolutions implemented the most significant price reductions. AT&T and Verizon, for instance, cut their ADSL entry-level tariffs while also announcing investments in fibre optic networks. Indeed, even though technologically innovative, for the time being fibre optic based services are not so different from those of DSL, thus operators must not provide them at significantly higher prices. Whatever the reasons, the result was a continuous increase in speed rates from 256 Kbps to the current 10 to 20 Mbps (depending on the technology – ADSL2, ADSL2+ – and on other contextual characteristics such as for instance the distance from the user to the local exchange). This is true in Europe; in the USA, common speed rates are currently 3 or 4 Mbps. It should be noted that in the recent past, IPTV in particular played a significant role in broadband developments as basic ADSL speeds were not high enough to transmit TV channels.
Exhibit 32 ADSL speed-distance diagram
Source: Tandberg
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Operators were obliged to upgrade their copper access networks to ADSL2+ or to invest in fibre optic access. However, at the end of 2006, only 2.5 million IPTV subscribers were accounted in Europe. Reasons for a relatively low development (except for France which concentrates 2/3 of the European IPTV subscriber base) are the difficulties for operators to obtain rights to premium movie and sport content for delivery as multicast and video on demand.
Exhibit 33 IPTV subscribers for selected suppliers in Europe (at mid-2007)
France Telecom/Orange (France) 837 000 Neuf Cegetel (France) 600 000 Telefonica (Spain) 450 930 Free* (France) 420 000 KPN (Netherlands) 337 000 Belgacom (Belgium) 191 300 FastWeb (Italy) 170 000 Tele2 Compleet (Netherlands) 166 000 Telecom Italia (Italy) 67 760 Tiscali (UK) 65 000 * Pay-TV subscribers only Source: World Broadband Information Service, IDATE
Due to the global availability of the copper wired pair, the simplicity of the involved devices and the supported rates, xDSL has become widespread: it is currently the most used access technology in the world and the speed is ever increasing (up to 24 Mbit/s in downlink direction, thanks to ADSL2+ and SDSL). Shipments of xDSL equipment reached 73.7 million units in 2003 and 185 in 2006. With such figures, xDSL positioned as the first broadband access technologies at the end of last year. Worldwide, the share was as follows (ADSL Forum). • xDSL: 185 millions (65.70%). • Cable: 63 millions (22.31%). • FTTx : 30 millions (10.57%). • Satellite: 780,000 (0.28%). • other technologies: 3 millions (1.14%).
Finally, the current situation is that Broadband marketplaces have reached maturity in most western European countries. Penetration is even nearing saturation point in the Netherlands and Sweden. This is also true in South Korea where DSL growth rate is shrinking from year to year because of migration from DSL to very high-speed solutions.
Exhibit 34 Top 10 countries in terms of broadband penetration, as of mid-2006
Rank Country % population 1 Netherlands 28% 2 South Korea 26% 3 Sweden 24% 4 Japan 19% 5 UK 19% 6 France 18% 7 USA 17% 8 Spain 15% 9 Germany 15% 10 Italy 13% Source: IDATE
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In parallel to those developments in fixed access, mobile technologies can also provide broadband services. 3G can offer peak download rates of 384 kb/s and there were 45 million subscribers in Western Europe at the end of 2006 (more than half of them are concentrated in Italy and in the United Kingdom). But more significant is the recent development of HSDPA (3.5G) which can provide download rates of up to 3.6 Mb/s (numerous European operators have already upgraded parts of their networks). In the multimedia domain, mobile operator strategies were initially geared to building portals with specific content offers but direct access to the Internet via mobile telephones could be introduced with the increase in bandwidth. Furthermore, mobile TV could act as a catalyst for increasing speed of cellular networks. Mobile TV services, based on various standards (DVD-H in Italy, T-DMB in Germany, DAB-IP in the UK) have already reached about 420,000 subscribers at the end of 2006, just a few months after launch.
3.4 Likely Key Future Developments
After several years of increase in bitrates, followed by the advent of new service offering (Triple Play in particular), operators and service providers need to concentrate on future developments and are betting on very high speed solutions based on advanced DSL technologies (VDSL, VDSL2) and on fiber optic. Questions that have already been asked about Broadband still need to be addressed: - What are the needs for higher speed rates? - How is it possible to cover larger population at lower costs? - Will new technologies be durable? - What is the role of the different players involved? - …
Fiber optic networks, currently called FTTx networks, have begun to be deployed in some countries during the last five to six years. In Asia, and more precisely in Japan and Korea which are still precursors in ICT domains, very high speed services based on FTTx networks are already commercialised. This is also the case in Italy and Sweden, which were the first European countries where FTTx networks were developed on behalf of new players (Fastweb and B2 respectively). The ongoing increase in the bitrates delivered to users is tied to the evolving nature of operators’ service offering, notably towards the inclusion of TV services which require bandwidth of at least 4 Mbps. As the video offer is enhanced, particularly with the introduction of high definition TV, consumers’ bandwidth demand could well rise substantially (with the introduction of MPEG-4, the bitrate required for one HD channel is around 10 to 12 Mbps, but it should drop to around 6 to 7 Mbps by 2008). Different kinds of players are involved in very high speed deployments. After new players, incumbents and alternative operators began to get involved by 2005 in Europe and in the USA. Their goals differed a little depending on national contexts. For instance, American telcos AT&T and Verizon decided to deploy FTTx solutions in order to bridge the gap with cablecos who really dominate the American Broadband market. Fiber optic infrastructures enable them to provide quasi equivalent services in terms of quality and applications. As for European operators, there goal is to confirm their positioning on the market, and to find ways to stand out from competitors and not to be left behind by the latter… Nevertheless, European operators, and incumbents in particular, are quite cautious because of regulatory uncertainty. Indeed, in the USA and in Japan, regulation
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regarding FTTx networks and unbundling or infrastructures is defined (unbundling required in Japan but not in the USA), whereas in Europe, national authorities have taken no final decision. And operators consider that the financial risk could be too high if a constraining regulation comes into force after their deployments. Their positioning is also due to the fact that actual high speed rates are sufficient for current applications. Whatever the reasons, FTTx deployments will firstly concern high density areas and ADSL2+ is expected to continue to be the preferred solution for remaining zones, to be able to market a nationwide triple play. Conversely, in South Korea and Japan, the migration to fibre networks, which is well ahead of the rest of the world, will likely continue and will quickly allow operators eventually to deliver services running 1 Gbps per subscriber.
Besides fibre optic deployments, other technologies, such as wireless technologies, are also still improving and will be able to provide higher and higher speed rates in the near future. Indeed, Fourth Generation Mobile, 802.11n or 802.16e, HFBWA4 (wireless solutions using high frequencies – from 20 to 40 GHz – most of them still in the standardisation process) or other future developments will probably compete with fiber optic networks to provide very high speed rates in specific areas, such as rural areas.
3.5 Domain Research Activities and Involvement of Key Players
Broadband has become a major stake for incumbent carriers that are to contend with the inexorable decline of their landline business. All have made massive investments in deploying broadband infrastructures (chiefly DSL), and were the first to position themselves in this new market. The head start they got in deploying broadband infrastructures allowed them to build up a large subscriber base, thus obtaining a market share that, in many cases, remains the largest in their home market. It is nonetheless worth noting that incumbents have been facing growing competition over the past few years, in part due to unbundling and to alternative broadband access technologies.
Exhibit 35 Evolution of incumbent telcos' share of their domestic broadband market
Country Incumbent broadband lines market Retail incumbent ISP broadband share (Retail + Wholesale) subscribers market share Mid-2004 Mid-2005 Mid-2006 Mid-2004 Mid-2005 Mid-2006 Germany 87% 79% 71% 70% 59% 51% Spain 74% 68% 66% 48% 46% 55% France 77% 66% 64% 46% 44% 47% Italy 84% 81% 83% 69% 69% 69% Netherlands 42% 41% 43% 26% 34% 32% UK 62% 69% 69% 25% 24% 24% Sweden 53% 51% 44% 39% 34% 38% Source: IDATE
Regarding alternative operators, they initially relied on incumbent telcos’ infrastructure to provide broadband access but were quick to want to gain more “technical independence”, either by taking control of another operator with infrastructure, or through unbundling. The option depends a great deal on the state of the national market in which the players operate but, on the whole, a combination of the two is often the best solution to increase a subscriber base substantially. T-Online, for instance,
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opted to take control of Albura’s active networks in Spain, and to invest in its own infrastructure in France. Tele2, meanwhile, bought a series of operators for their infrastructures (Austria, Denmark, Spain, Benelux) and deployed targeted infrastructure in Norway, in Sweden and in Italy. Now, because unbundling has become an affordable option, the vast majority of alternative operators in Europe are going that route, with cases in point that include Europe’s largest alternative operator in terms of subscribers, Free, along with Orange in the UK and the Netherlands, and Telenor. As a result, French and British alternative operators have managed to gain control of around half of broadband retail market share. In the long run, alternative operators will likely abandon resale altogether and focus on unbundling and, in some cases, on alternative technologies (fibre optic, wireless, etc.).
Exhibit 36 Unbundling operators' announced investments and coverage
Player Country Investment Coverage Cable & Wireless The UK n.a. 600 exchanges in May 2006; Bulldog 800 exchanges or 52% of the population by the end of 2006 Cybercity Denmark n.a. 100-150 exchanges, 70% of the population Easynet The UK n.a. 350 exchanges FastWeb Italy 1.4 billion EUR by 2007 50% of the population for 2006 Optus Australia 150 million USD 100 exchanges in April 2006; 340 exchanges at the end of 2006 Tele2 Italy 100 million EUR n.a. Telecom Italia France 300-400 million EUR in n.a. the first three years Telefónica Germany 40% of households as of mid- Deutschland 2006 Tiscali Netherlands 60% exchanges by the end of 2007 Tiscali Italia Italy 35 million EUR in 2005 50% of the population by the end of 2007 Tiscali UK The UK 90 million EUR 20% of the population at the between 2005 and 2008 end of 2007 T-Online/ France 500 million EUR by n.a. Club-Internet 2007 Orange Spain Spain 200-300 million EUR 250 exchanges, 50% of the population Orange/France Netherlands 50% exchanges by the end of Telecom 2007 Source: IDATE
Operators' investments in broadband also led to significant upgrades in speeds. From 128 to 512 kbps in the early days (late 90s), operators in Europe have now started to market access services at speeds of up to 20 Mbps (theoretical bitrates) through DSL or cable modem and even more through new fibre optics access networks.
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Exhibit 37 Maximum theoretical downstream speeds supplied by some of the leading broadband providers in Europe (mid-2006)
ISP 512 640 1 2 3 4 6 8 10 12 20 26 kb/s kb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Mb/s Free z z Noos z z z z Orange z z z Neuf Cegetel z z Telecom Italia z z z Tiscali z z FastWeb z z Telefónica z z z z z Auna/Ono z z T-online z z z BT z Belgacom z z z Tele2 z z Legend: z on offer project, trial or early launch stage
Source: IDATE, based on operator websites
Today, the key players of the broadband domain are the large telcos (incumbent operators but also some alternative providers) and a few vendors.
All the major telcos were deeply involved in FP5 projects in the broadand domain. The 5 major incumbents (Deutsche Telecom, France Télécom, BT, Telecom Italia, Telefónica) had a total of 30 partcipations (+25 participations of other EU incumbents of which Portugal Telecom with 9 participations), both on the technological plane and on applications. They could often implement solutions or parts of the solutions developed in these projects in their own networks and offers.
Exhibit 38 Major European broadband access providers – number of retail broadband customers in Europe (in millions)
14 11.7 12 9.7 10 8.7
8
6 4.3 3.2 3.1 4
2
0
Deutsche France Telecom Italia Telefónica BT Virgin Media Telekom Telecom
Source: IDATE, from operators
As for vendors, Alcatel and Lucent were pioneers in the DSL market. The combined group Alcatel-Lucent had shipped 30.6 million DSL ports in 2006, still representing a 34%-market share in volume although they lost 8 points over the past two years (in the meantime, Huawei could gain 7 points, with strong positions in IP-DSLAM). ZTE moved into third position closely followed by Nokia Siemens and Ericsson.
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Exhibit 39 Market share for DSL ports shipped by infrastructure vendors, 2004-2006
2006 2005 2004 M units Market share M units Market share M units Market share Alcatel-Lucent 30.6 34.0% 26.8 36.2% 23.5 42.4% Huawei 21.6 24.0% 13.8 18.6% 9.5 17.1% ZTE 7.0 7.8% 4.9 6.6% n.a. n.a. Nokia Siemens 6.8 7.6% 5.5 7.4% 4.0 7.2% Ericsson 6.7 7.4% 5.0 6.8% 1.6 2.9% ECI Telecom 3.8 4.2% 4.0 5.4% 2.9 5.2% NEC 3.2 3.6% 3.6 4.9% n.a. n.a. Others 10.3 11.4% 10.4 14.1% 13.9 25.1% Total 90.0 100.0% 74.0 100.0% 55.4 100.0% Source: IDATE
In the global carrier switch and router markets, Cisco and Alcatel maintained their positions as the No. 1 and No. 2 market leaders, respectively. The two companies have thus far been the most successful in capitalizing on the shift toward carrier Ethernet and IP.
In optical transmission, Alcatel could also position as the world market leader; furthermore, the merger with Lucent gave the new group a global marketshare almost twice as high as two direct competitors -Nortel and Huawei. The new entity benefited from the merger as the former Alcatel had key position in DWDM technology while the former Lucent was a traditional key player in SDH/SONET Alcatel-Lucent could even gain 1% market share in 2006 to 24%.
Exhibit 40 Market share for the main suppliers of optical transmission by technology in 2005 SONET/SDH WDM Total Alcatel Lucent 20.7% 24.1% 23.0% Nortel 11.9% 11.6% 11.7% Huawei 9.1% 11.6% 10.8% Fujitsu 6.4% 9.9% 8.8% Cisco 5.8% 6.5% 6.3% Siemens 4.6% 6.4% 5.8% Ericsson/Marconi 2.6% 5.9% 4.8% Source: IDATE
All the major vendors in Europe were involved in FP5 projects in the broadband domain, notably for technological developments, i.e. mainly in the "Optical Networks" and "Network Integration" sub-domains: the 4 major European vendors (Alcatel/Lucent, Siemens, Ericsson, Nokia) had a total of 39 participations while Cisco had 5. We can also mention the strong presence of the Greek vendor Intracom, active in 7 projects . All those vendors could develop and experiment new technologies for next generation networks.
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4 Scientific and Technological Impacts
The following section outlines the main findings comparing the planned and actual impacts in the scientific and technological sphere.
Exhibit 41 shows how Outputs and Outcomes in this impact category were expected to lead to the Planned Impacts.
Exhibit 41 Scientific and Technological Impacts
Outputs & outcomes Short-to-medium Term Impacts Long-Term Impacts
Scientific and technological breakthroughs
Upgraded optical Improved knowledge in optical European research transmission techniques technologies competitiveness
Network and application Development of interoperable demos and pilots Maintaining European platforms and seamless networks excellence in the broadband domain IPv6 Implementation of testbeds to experiment new applications Competitiveness of the European telecom equipment industry Research Capacity Impacts
Providing solutions to Enhanced knowledge and Improved know-how, skills and operators to improve skills qualifications of European researchers quality and efficiency of their networks Strengthened or new RTD Extended RTD networks (cooperation partnerships and networking) Providing platforms for advanced services to Encouraged further RTD European users
A first step in the analysis of scientific and technological impacts was the assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented research in reaching its scientific and technological goals. As is explained in the introduction section to this report, the project activities were expected to promote excellence in the technologies which are crucial to the Information Society, to accelerate their take-up and broaden their field of application. They were in particular encouraged to support the development of next generation technologies, based on optical transmission, and their integration with existing technologies to support applications and services which require more and more bandwidth. Findings on these project achievements, based upon the survey results, input from stakeholders interviewed and documentation on the projects, are reported in sub-section 4.1.
Subsequently, the importance of the specific scientific and technological outputs (prototypes, models, research tools, etc.) were taken into consideration as well as the potential value of these tangible project results for further impacts within the different impact categories – see Section 4.2.
Research activities however lead also to equally important intangible impacts both on the participating organisations as on the scientific and technological community at large, covering such issues as:
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• Knowledge-oriented impacts, including improvements of the knowledge base and skills, knowledge transfer, etc. • Network-oriented impacts, including research and scientific networking (for example, industry-university cooperation) • Strategic management of research, including the updating of research and networking strategies • European research cooperation, including the development of research infrastructures, mobility of researchers, developing a critical mass of researchers. Assessment of impacts on those issues is reported in section 4.3, broken down into 4 sub-sections: impacts at domain and sub-domains level (4.3.1, 4.3.2), European added value (4.3.3), follow on research (4.3.4).
Finally, we will measure the impacts of R&D capabilities in the broader environment (section 4.4).
General conclusions on the achievement of the expected impacts within this impact category are drawn in sub-section 4.5.
For the purposes of this study, the projects within this Domain were grouped in four sub-domains: • ‘Optical Networks’ (10 RTD projects) focused on the design of next generation network technologies, with the associated protocols and signalling mechanisms, to allow end-to-end optical transmission across core and access network. Out of the 84 organisations participating in these projects, 24 responded to the survey questionnaire, i.e. 29%; they represented 8 in 10 projects. • ‘Network Integration’ (22 RTD projects) had as core objective to develop solutions for ensuring interoperability between existing and NGN technologies, backbone and access, fixed and mobile… In this area, 35 out of the 197 participants responded to the survey questionnaire (i.e. 18%); 19 in 23 projects were ‘represented’. • ‘Applications through seamless networks’ (12 RTD projects) had as core objective to provide technical solutions capable of delivering the same kind of services to subscriber, utilizing different technologies in a transparent way. We also grouped in this category projects focusing on service quality management. Out of the 96 project partners, 15 participated in the survey, i.e. 16%; they represented 9 in 12 projects. • ‘Safety, security and comfort of use’ (7 projects) focused on the user's point of view and the risks associated with the implementation of new technologies. They aimed at securing consumer's confidence. Out of the 63 organisations participating in these projects, 15 responded to the survey questionnaire, i.e. 24%; they represented 6 in 7 projects.
Note: Throughout this section, and the remaining of this report, ‘Illustrations’ are provided in coloured boxes. These ‘Illustrations’ aim at giving concrete examples of impacts or patterns described in the text. They are based upon the input of the survey respondents and stakeholders interviewed as well as on desk research covering publicly available documentation on the projects and their results within this Domain.
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4.1 Effectiveness of the Research
4.1.1 Results at domain level Exhibit 42, below, shows the effectiveness of the Broadband research projects undertaken in terms of participants’ judgement as to the level of attainment of expected results. Generally speaking, the survey participants indicated that achievements were in line with or higher than their expectations, especially regarding project outputs (more than 70%) and impacts on R&D capabilities (close to 70%), with more than one respondent out of 5 considering that achievements were higher than expected in both cases. Levels of satisfaction are also high when looking at the impacts of the overall organisation (64% of respondents indicate this is in line or greater than expectations) and the impacts on project partners and immediate users (56%)8. Regarding the impacts on the broader environment, the impression is more balanced with 9% considering results were higher than expectations but another 9% considering they were less than expected.
Exhibit 42 Attainment of Expected Results – RTD projects
Attainment of Expected Results (Base: 89 respondents)
Regarding project outputs 27% 44% 7%
Regarding impacts on R&D capabilities 22% 47% 7%
Regarding impacts on the overall organisation 19 % 45% 11%
Regarding impacts on project partners and immediate 18 % 38% 9% users of project results
Regarding impacts on the broader environment 9% 36% 9%
0% 50% 100%
Achievements (much) greater than expectations Achievements equal to expectations
Achievements (much) less than expectations Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
We can add to the picture relative considerations on value for money of the projects. In all categories except for impacts on the broader environment, more than half of respondents indicate projects had effective value for money (with a higher percentage for impacts on internal R&D capabilities and direct project outputs). However, a quite significant share of respondents considered value for money was low or negligible, in particular for project outputs (13% of interviewees). This can be explained by the nature of part of the research in this domain (basic research in optical technologies) with significant funding but limited tangible outputs and by the period of FP5 which just corresponded to the "internet bubble burst", impacting market prospects (see following sections).
8 This statement certainly covers mainly the impact on project partners as final users had only very little involvement in the projects
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Exhibit 43 Value for money – RTD projects
Value for Money (Base: 89 respondents)
Project outputs 39% 22% 13 %
Impacts on the organisations' R&D capabilities 38% 25% 9%
Impacts on project partners and immediate users 28% 27% 6%
Impacts on the overall organisation 26% 30% 12 %
Impacts on the broader environment 11% 24% 12 %
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High value for money M oderate value for money Low/ Negligible value for money
Source: WING Survey, Domain of Broadband, 2007
A lot of interviewees declared that the projects were significant contributors to the development of broadband in Europe: • "the FP5 programme contributed to the development of new solutions and therefore, it helped a lot for the development of broadband throughout Europe. Broadband would not have reached the same level without the European programmes contribution" (a LION project's representative from Telecom Italia), • "work programmes such as FP5 are very useful for the development and generalisation of broadband" (a representative of the Universita degli Studi da Roma, involved in several projects mainly in the network integration subdomain), • "the European Commission plays an essential role in terms of broadband development […], the funding from the EC is therefore very useful" (a representive of the METEOR project from the Research Centre for Communications in Denmark), etc.
It is indeed difficult to analyze the effectiveness of research only with regards to the original objectives or the amount of money spent. We can have a broader –and generally positive- picture when looking at the overall impacts of those projects on the European research and industry positioning.
Considering in particular the largest research projects in the broadband domain, e.g. some projects with EC funding over 5 million €, we can see that they could provide effective and very positive effects on technologies and industries: • the Euro6IX project proved to be successful on various aspects (effective cooperation between incumbent telcos which were usually competing each other on commercial activities, effective deployment and operation of an IPv6 native network, repositioning of the European research community and link with the international community) • the DAVID project could impact significantly on all levels (research competitiveness, research capacity, acquisition of knowledge and skills critical for the industry, strong collaboration between industrial and academic players, etc.) • the LION project led to very effective results regarding notably the research and industry communities (excellent combination of knowledge and skills, concrete and efficient interactivity between partners, opening of a large international research community and follow up projects, etc.).
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Examples of concrete impacts of the DAVID project on the research competitiveness and capacity are the following: • research competitiveness : - proposition of disruptive network concepts for a long term vision - test of advanced optical technologies for a better knowledge of the potential of the optical technology - new building blocks produced currently (2007) in line with the requirements of future networks (burst mode technology) - leadership acquired in the domain and strategic positions in international conferences (ECOC, Photonics in Switching, Asia Pacific Optical Communication conference, LEOS…) - efficiency increased in the design of new network concepts • research capacity : - scientific community enlarged in the conferences (currently one of the major topics addressed) - impacts on the universities: teams and new compentencies created, numerous theses on topics - development of a critical mass on that topic - creation of a solid competency to push new projects and create a real dynamic at European scale (e-Photon project is one example).
4.1.2 Results at sub-domain level Exhibit 44, below, shows for each of the four major sub-domains of the research the percentage of respondents who indicated “lower than expected attainment” of project results. As for project outputs, 21% of respondents for 'optical networks' projects indicated that results were less than expected. Certainly, projects in this sub-domain were also the most challenging for technological issues. What is more surprising is that those projects are also seen as having less than expected impacts on R&D capabilities. This could mean that participants had some difficulties to capitalise on those developments for further research but we will see in the following that this had only marginal effects.
As regards impacts on the overall organisation, 'network integration' projects were more disappointing than others. 'Safety, security and comfort of use' projects led to less than expected impacts on project partners and immediate users and on the broader environment; here again, those results have to be considered in relative terms as expectations on those two dimensions were particularly high in this sub-domain.
Exhibit 44 Lower-than-expected results per sub-domain
Optical Network Applications through Safety, Security Networks Integration (base: seamless networks & Comfort of use (base: 24 resp.) 35 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) (base: 15 resp.)
Regarding project outputs 21% 3% Regarding impacts on R&D capabilities 13% 7% 13% Regarding impacts on the overall organisation 8% 17% 7% 7% Regarding impacts on project partners and immediate 13% 6% 20% users of project results Regarding impacts on the broader environment 8% 6% 7% 20% Source: WING Survey, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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4.2 Scientific and Technological Achievements
4.2.1 Results at domain level From the survey data results that the research in the Broadband domain, funded under FP5, led most frequently to the development of novel technologies and solutions.
Exhibit 45 Importance of the Outputs
Importance of the Outputs (Base: 89 respondents)
Publications 65% 12 % 9%
Prototypes, demonstrators and pilots 61% 22% 6%
New research tools and techniques 56% 16 % 15 %
Models and simulations 48% 21% 15 %
PhDs and other formal qualifications 37% 13 % 28%
Other types of output 12 % 7% 13 %
Patent applications 9% 21% 45% Copyrights, trademarks, registered designs, 2%12 % 55% licences etc.
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High importance Moderate importance Low/ No importance
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
In fact, as is illustrated in Exhibit 45, a high proportion of survey respondents, representing more or less 60%, indicated prototypes, demonstrators and pilots and/or new research tools and techniques as important outputs of the projects and close to 50% mentioned models and simulations. These types of outputs are the essential early outputs for subsequent scientific and technological innovation and longer-term economic and social impacts. In other words, the research results were to serve as inputs for further research towards long term developments. Interesting were also the levels of survey respondents (close to 40%) indicating new and/or improved products, services and processes as important outputs. These research activities therefore resulted in ‘operational systems’ which should find a relatively rapid translation from the project stage to a commercial / economic impact (e.g. WINMAN, see next section).
4.2.2 S&T Achievements in the sub-domains The same pattern of more ‘important’ outputs in the novel technologies and solutions sphere is visible throughout all sub-domains, even though at slightly different degrees. As is shown in Exhibit 47, such outputs that are typical for a more exploratory research were achieved especially in the Optical Networks and Applications through seamless networks sub-domains.
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Exhibit 46 Outputs of high importance by sub-domain
Network Applications through Safety, Security Optical Networks Integration seamless networks & Comfort of use (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) New research tools and techniques 63% 51% 80% 33% Models and simulations 58% 43% 47% 47% Prototypes, demonstrators and pilots 71% 46% 67% 73% New or improved products 46% 29% 40% 47% New or improved processes 17% 23% 20% 33% New or improved services 21% 40% 33% 47% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
These results can be explained easily for Optical Networks projects, which were explicitly longer-term research projects, paving the way for further R&D. It is quite more surprising for projects of the Applications sub domain. However, a lot of projects in this area were dedicated to QoS (Quality of Service) issues and results were to be implemented afterwards in specific technical solutions (VPN, public networks, consumer solutions): in that sense, outputs of projects could bring new techniques to support those further developments (see details of the MESCAL project further in this section).
On the other hand, close to 50% of the respondents in the Optical Networks and Safety, Security & Comfort of Use sub-domains, and 40% in the Network Integration and Applications through seamless networks sub-domains, considered that their research activities led to important outputs in terms of innovated or new ‘Operational Systems’.
Optical networks
The projects within this category were dedicated to the design of next generation networks based on optical technologies. Among the projects of this category, several were dedicated to the development and test of very high-speed transmission technologies (WDM, OTDM). Others were integrating those technologies into network solutions, switches, MAN, etc. Another group of 2 projects were testing flexible transmission solutions (dynamically reconfigurable or made of various protocols) and finally, one project (OPTIMIST – see Illustration) aimed at clustering initiatives of organizations active in photonic technologies and optical networking.
Exhibit 47 Research topics covered by optical networks RTD projects
Project Topics ATLAS WDW fibre links up to 1 terabit/s CAPRICORN DWDM core network DAVID Packet-over-WDM network solutions ESTA 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch FASHION OTDM at 160 Gigabit/s and over HARMONICS Flexible wavelength routing (dynamically reconfigurable fibre infrastructure) LION Optical transport network METEOR Terabit optical MAN (40 channels up to 40 Gigabit/s) STOLAS Packet-switched IP-over-WDM networks TOPRATE Transmission of several terabit/s capacity over one optical fibre Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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Projects in this category could contribute significantly and, for most of them through tangible outputs, to research progress in very sensitive areas: • Many projects carried out complete testbeds and trials. This is a good indicator of a project success, especially when real users are involved (it was mainly true when a partner was at its hand a possible customer of the proposed enhancements, such as a Service Provider). • Most projects developed and tested advanced optical devices and/or subsystems that in all cases were not the ultimate goal of the projects, but well motivated by- products in a general network-architecture context. This is according to the good rule by which technological evolution should be driven by system requirements. • In several projects particular attention was positively dedicated to the definition of requirements (often a specific initial project phase is reserved to the purpose) trying to take into account both operators’ (e.g. manageability) and customers’ (e.g. SLA, cost) needs. In definition of requirement the participation to the project of network operators as partners is surely beneficial. On the other hand, in FP5 optical network projects there was a lack or scarcity of partners representing potential users or communities of users. In addition, collaboration and co-ordination between FP5 projects on optical networks has been favoured by dedicating a special thematic network project (OPTIMIST) to this purpose.
As indicated previously, and confirmed by stakeholders interviewed and the collected evidence, the projects in this area could hardly lead to immediate products; instead, they were to give way to significant developments in technological competencies and know-how and pave the way for high expertise of the European industry in very high speed networks. Furthermore, several projects in this category were dedicated to the development and multiplexing of 40 Gbps links but the market was not there, in particular due to the "internet bubble" burst and solutions were still based for years on 10 Gbps links.
However, outputs in terms of "prototypes, demonstrators and pilots" and "models and simulations" show that projects in this area led to significant tangible outputs. The LION project is illustrative of this (see presentation below), as it could demonstrate the feasibility of interworking between the optical and IP layers.
The LION project aimed at designing and testing a resilient and managed Optical Transport Network (OTN) carrying different clients (e.g. SDH and IP) with interworking between layers and domains. Large industry players carried out the project (Telecom Italia as prime contributor on the operator side, accompanied by Deutsche Telekom and Polish TP; mainly Siemens and Cisco on the equipment side) and several academic research centres, for a total cost of 10.7 million EUR and EC funding of 5.5 million EUR. Besides tangible outputs of the project (feasibility of inter-working between optical and IP layers), the cooperation between the various partners proved to be very efficient, each of them coming from different backgrounds and bringing complementary knowledge and skills. Another important outcome of the project was the contribution to standards at the international level to bridge the gap between US and Europe in the adoption of optical-internetworking technologies and the deployment of appropriate backbone network infrastructures. Finally, the LION project created the conditions for opening a large international community to follow up on this matter; several European projects have followed (notably NOBEL).
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Exhibit 48 LION preliminary roadmap
Source: LION project
More largely, projects in this sub-domain could carry out tests and trials, meaning that they could also lead to tangible outputs: • the ESTA project in particular carried out an extensive programme of tests with two data service providers over MAN and WAN distances (to demonstrate the 10GE switch which could be developed during the project), • the HARMONICS project produced laboratory testbeds and field trials with real users to demonstrate the proposed solutions (i.e. access networks providing capacity on demand with different QoS classes) • systems and sub-systems to support interworking and interconnection between client-server layer networks and domains, and IP based transport network, which was the core of the LION project, were also experimented in a testbed • in the course of the METEOR project, T-Nova could conduct a field trial with a 4 node-ring system to demonstrate a tera-bit optical metropolitan area network • the STOLAS project conducted a laboratory testbed, then a field trial in cooperation with two running IST projects (also deploying a limited network management system) • systems developed in the The TOPRATE project has conducted successfully the course of the TOPRATE worldwide first terrestrial DWDM field transmission trials project (transmitter with a channel bitrate of 170 Gbit/s based on advanced systems, receivers, etc. to components, subsystems and system demonstrators enable the transmission developed in the project. The TOPRATE field transmission of several Tbit/s capacity trials provided for the first time practical experience with the performance and the potential of over-next bitrate over one optical fibre) hierarchy system generation (4xSTM-256, 4xOC-768) were experimented in within existing fiber networks.. laboratory testbeds.
In addition, looking at the technological roadmap presented in section 2.1.1, all research projects of the sub-domain covered and could contribute through tangible outputs to one or several of the items (research domains or industrial developments) specified. In general, the outcome was quite in line with advanced research carried out by the technological community at that time. Some of them were even first and decisive contributions to new developments at world level. In particular, the LION project could prove, for the first time in the international community, that "inter-working" between the optical and the IP layers of a network was possible. TOPRATE has conducted successfully the worldwide first terrestrial DWDM field transmission trials with a channel bitrate of 170 Gbit/s based on advanced components, subsystems and system demonstrators developed in the project.
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Besides those specific examples, most projects of the sub-domain could lead to significant progress in one or several areas of the optical networks technological roadmap: • OTDM was for instance The FASHION project investigated and approved investigated in the FASHION four different demultiplexing technologies (four and TOPRATE projects (see wave mixing -FWM- in a semiconductor optical amplifier -SOA-, cross phase modulation in a SOA details in boxes) Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a gain-transparent • OADM was investigated in the ultrafast nonlinear interferometer (GT-UNI), and METEOR project: it could electro absorption modulators) for real 160 Gbit/s notably demonstrate a 16x16 optical transmission systems over long distance. configurable OADM card Within the first year, this could be achieved for supported by management. It transmission over 350 km and increased to 450 km could also deal with a lot of in the laboratory. At the end of the project, design other issues associated with the criteria and specifications for OTDM designers overall optical technological were available for networking at 160 Gbit/s beyond 500 km. roadmap (e.g. FEC) • TMN was the core of the LION project and it could define an "umbrella" management architecture enabling integration of TMN (Telecommunication Management Network), WBEM (Web Based Management) and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). This system could integrate existing transport network management functionality and management of the control plane (see LION roadmap above) • 10G-Ethernet was investigated in the ESTA project. Of particular interest here is the timeframe as industrial deployments of this technology were expected for the years 2004-2005; this means that the project could serve for pre-commercial deployments • 80-λ DWDM were investigated in the ATLAS project for distances in the 500- 1,000 km range. Here again, the timing of the project (beg. 2000 to end 2002) was quite consistent with industrial deployments originally planned 3 or 4 years later • the DAVID project has together with the other IST project STOLAS (primarily focusing on burst switching in the metro-access domain) been the leading project on advanced time-domain switching at the optical layer.
Projects in this area could also lead to both short-medium term developments (i.e. implementation in products or services) and long term impacts, through follow on research. The DAVID project in the Optical Networks sub-domain (see illustration below) is a typical example of research leading to both mid-term exploitation and follow-on research impacts. It could in particular provide solutions for mid-term implementation of Packet-over-WDM tranmission.
The objective of the DAVID project was to propose a Packet-over-WDM network solution for the transport of voice, data and multimedia applications, based on optical packets and asynchronous transmission in both the WAN and MAN domains. The project was carried out by large industry players (Alcatel for the equipment side and to a lesser extent, incumbent telcos, namely BT, Deutsche Telecom, Telefónica, Telenor) and by university research centres, for a total cost of 10.4 million EUR and EC funding of 6 million EUR. Although it has been recognised that "the time-scale for introducing the over-all DAVID concept is still a number of years in the future", some solutions for mid-term implementation could be marketed by one of the project partners and very positive results could be retained on the research side. The DAVID project has been a key contributor in maintaining Europe’s leading role in advanced optical networks and the strong involvement of academic partners can ensure that high level research will be pursued in this domain. In fact, a Network of Excellence was
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settled in the frame of FP6, in order to preserve knowledge and reinforce European excellence compared to the USA and Asia.
Network integration Research in this area aimed at developing solutions for ensuring interoperability between existing and NGN technologies, backbone and access, fixed and mobile, etc As existing technologies were very broad, projects in this area were numerous and devoted to the various transport and access networks: copper, fibre, cable, terrestrial wireless, satellite, PLC, etc.
Exhibit 49 Research topics covered by network integration RTD projects
Project Topics 6HOP Heterogeneous Wireless IPv6 network 6INIT IPv6 transit service 6POWER IPv6 over PLC networks ANDROID Active network management in the context of IPv6 AQUILA Dynamic end-to-end QoS provisioning in IP networks BASS Broadband Information Highway bridging legacy and next generation networks BRAHMS Universal access interface for broadband satellite multimedia services CASSIC Interoperability of interactive services on HFC network DRIVE Easy access to mobile multimedia services from vehicular environments Euro6IX First Pan European non commercial IPv6 Internet Exchange Network FAIN Open, flexible, programmable and dependable network architecture based on interoperable active IP network nodes GCAP End-to-end multicast transport protocol GEOCAST Terrestrial and satellite segments, building blocks and protocols for next generation multicast systems GNIUS New business framework based on a mobile network interconnecting diverse domains (clients, traders, servers) InHomNet Next generation in-home network Netgate High performance protocol gateway to bridge the "compatibility" gap between different telecom networks (SS7, IN, ATM, GSM, GPRS…) PALAS Potential of the PLC technology SHUFFLE Architecture for efficient, scalable & robust real time control of resources in 3G mobile systems SUITED Integrated satellite/terrestrial broadband communication infrastructure for the support of mobile and portable, QoS guarantee, Internet services Video Gateway Gateway between the next generation Internet streaming video standards and the narrowband Internet own standards WINE Fully IPv6-based globally optimised wireless Internet environment with QoS awareness WINMAN Open, flexible and Integrated Management solution offering Configuration, Fault and Performance management for IP over hybrid transport networks Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Most projects in this category covered basic research to test interconnection capabilities of different network elements and related management solutions. But a few aimed at developing and setting up concrete solutions (e.g. a Pan European IPv6 Internet Exchange Network). One initiative, NGN-Lab, also served as a testbed for other projects (see presentation in section 4.3.4). In terms of outputs of projects in this area, more than two thirds of respondents in this area indicated that the projects attained the expected results.
Numerous projects in this sub-domain were dedicated to IPv6. As implementation of IPv6 was very late (in fact, it is not widespread yet), projects came too early for their results/solutions to be implemented in networks.
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Nevertheless, several projects in this area could lead to close-to-market outputs. The WINMAN project (see presentation below) in particular is remarkable as it could provide an effective and viable solution to introduce IP over WDM; the WINMAN solution could be immediately used by project partners and introduced in their commercial offers.
The overall aim of the WINMAN project was to offer an integrated network management solution, capable of providing end-to-end IP connectivity services derived from Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The project was carried out by incumbent operators (Telefónica, Portugal Telecom and OTE), some equipment vendors (especially Lucent) and several academic research centers, for a total cost of 8.9 million EUR and EC funding of 5 million EUR. Of interest is the participation of a Romanian company to lead to cross-fertilisation and job-creating co-operation between the EU and NAS countries to reinforce the international role of European-driven RTD. One interesting point in the WINMAN research is that it has promoted synergies with numerous other projects. Deliverables could be exchanged with LION and METEOR; furthermore, WINMAN has retrieved relevant work from the standards and previous ACTS projects (e.g. MISA, MOON). Another point relates to the tangible outcomes of the project. In contrast with results of numerous other projects, the WINMAN solution was an effective and viable solution to introduce IP over WDM and participants in the consortium could use the findings in their commercial projects. However, further developments could be achieved during the period from end of project up to now and alternative solutions could be finally considered and retained.
Projects in this area were often dedicated to internal use (by telecom operators notably) to improve productivity and/or provide improved services. In particular thanks to the Euro6IX project, presented in section 5.1.4, participating telcos (Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, BT, Telecom Italia and Telefónica) could build a GIX based on IPv6 to interconnect their IP networks and experiment new services.
More largely, almost all projects carried out complete testbeds and trials: • the 6POWER project managed trial and evaluation activities, involving users, in order to use the network, advanced services and applications and to test QoS, security, multicast, mobility… • the BASS project consisted in two different project pilots and, at the end, all industrial partners could use the assessed technologies in their respective commercial offers. It was a pioneer in designing and testing VoIP solutions for value added applications (e.g. voice calls, video on demand, virtual classroom) over an ADSL access technology. Users from both the Internet and the Public Telephone worlds could communicate by an integrated platform, involving an IP/PSTN gateway and a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS), allowing direct virtual connections to a pool of Service Providers of a packet-switching world • the CASSIC project could develop a specific set top box, test platforms and simulate a dedicate environment with all components and protocol interfaces implemented, and promote a hardware demonstrator • the overDRIVE project could demonstrate key concepts and validate the benefits of the IP-based mobile technology by user trials and field tests • IPv6 solutions developed by Euro6IX were first used by research entities and non-commercial users, then promoted to ISPs and final users through tests and trials, and implemented in the participating telcos' IP backbone (see presentation of the Euro6IX project in section 5.1.4) • the FAIN project set up the first Pan-European Active Network with international connections to other non-European active network infrastructure
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and validated the overall project results through interworking with other testbeds • the GCAP project conducted two experiments using the national research networks and their European interconnection • the InHoMNet solution was verified by a number of end-users, including an industrial user • the Video Gateway project consisted in launching a prototype video gateway tested in two sets of trials • the WINMAN management platform was set up in several sites to demonstrate and validate the system.
Furthermore, several projects contributed significantly to improvements in QoS which is a very important concern for IP network and application developments. Half of the projects in the sub-domain covered explicitely QoS related issues, notably: • QoS in PLC access networks in 6POWER • QoS measurement infrastructure in AQUILA • Check of Qos of VoIP in BASS (see details in box below) • QoS of broadband satellite service provision in BRAHMS • Guaranteed QoS to advanced multimedia applications in GCAP • QoS sensitive mobile services in SUITED • IPv6-based wireless environment with QoS in WINE • QoS enforcement in IP environment in WINMAN
QoS was the core issue of the BASS project. As stated in the in the rationale of the project, packet based Networks supporting new BB services (Video, HS Internet, Corp LAN Access etc) and legacy services (POTS/ISDN, PRI, LL etc) need QoS to be validated as: - QoS is needed to mature these solutions over a BB packet network - QoS is, beside a technical issue, also a perception issue of End-users, Service Providers and Network Operators. Special attention was devoted to verify the QoS of VoIP and the QoS of VoATM via the broadband network. The tested architecture was a reference for an integrated PSTN and IP Internet solution, putting together users from different worlds, providing them a set of common innovative services, made available by remote Service Providers transparently interconnected. Among others, AAA issues were tackled as a challenge for the availability and usage of value-added services. Mainly real products (e.g. BRAS from Lucent, DSLAM From Redback) were deployed to built the final project pilot.
Significant interest of projects in this sub-domain came also from the various infrastructure environments they devoted to. IP did already exist and worked properly on copper access networks but not, or not properly, on other access networks. Technological developments and experiments were necessary to check feasibility on other wireline networks (PLC, cable, fibre) as well as on wireless networks (cellular, satellite). Most of them were investigated in one or several projects: • PLC through the 6POWER and PALAS projects, • HFC through the CASSIC project • cellular (GSM, GPRS, UMTS but also broadcasting technologies such as DAB and DVB-T) through the 6HOP, GNIUS and overDRIVE projects and more specifically 3G through the SHUFFLE project • satellite through the BRAHMS project or associated with terrestrial wireless segments through the GEOCAST and SUITED project,
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Outputs were relevant in all cases as they contributed to significant progress for the use of those technologies, even if further research was still needed for most of them at the end of the projects and if some technologies finally proved they were not suitable, or not robust enough, for those applications. It is part of the interest of basic research to look at various solutions and use results as a decision support tool; in this case, industrial players particularly appreciate public support (i.e. public funding) and collaborative research, not only to share costs but also to enlarge their field of investigation.
The overDRIVE project results could serve cellular operators, broadcast operators and automotive telematics suppliers. The project was dedicated to multiple issues related to technological constraints for data transmission in vehicular environments. The testbed demonstrated for the first time how a network mobility solution, which is based on a macro-mobility protocol (Mobile IPv6) can interwork with a micro-mobility approach (BCMP) to provide continuous IPv6 Internet access to users residing in moving sub-networks (such as trains, ships, etc.). The moving network testbed possesses multiple interfaces including access to WLAN, GPRS and UMTS/WCDMA. It was demonstrated that UMTS/WCDMA technology has the necessary bandwidth for real time video applications, as well. With the testbed different types of IP handovers were analyzed by performing handover outage time measurements. The results showed, that it is crucial to take some information from the radio (e.g., radio triggers) into account, because it helps making IP handovers much faster.
Finally, collaboration between the projects did not always happen, but was highly effective in some specific contexts, such as the future IPv6based network infrastructure (i.e. collaboration of the projects Euro6IX, 6HOP, 6INIT) and mobility provisioning. Moreover, only in the SUITED project, improvements of previous EU project achievements was an explicit objective. In this context it is worth mentioning the NGN- Initiative project, which effectively boosted and supported synergy among FP5 projects.
Applications through seamless networks The projects within this category had as core objective to provide technical solutions capable of supporting value added services for network operators and users, anywhere at anytime. Basically, the research topics of those projects were quite similar to those of the previous group but they were more oriented towards service management. In particular, a lot of projects in this area dealt with quality of service and service level specifications.
The survey respondents involved in these projects overall indicated positive results of the research: more than 85% considered that the research outputs were in line with or higher than expectations (and 0 answer for lower than expected). Almost all projects carried out complete test-beds and trials. This is a good indicator of a project success, especially when real or trained users are involved.
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Exhibit 50 Research topics covered by application oriented RTD projects
Project Topics CADENUS Integrated solution for the creation, configuration and provisioning of end-user services with QoS guarantees in Premium IP networks HASvideo Generic requirements for broadband IP video-based services IASON Evaluation procedures of heterogeneous networks, services and applications INTERNODE Service provisioning support platform for nomadic users M3I Next generation systems to enable Internet resource management through market sources MANTRIP Network management applications based on Mobile Agent Technology MESCAL Scalable, incremental solutions that enable flexible deployment and delivery of inter-domain QoS across the Internet MOEBIUS Mobile extranet platform PROXITV High bandwidth Internet & TV solution QOSIPS Support for QoS management, service differentiation and price setting of ISPs SCAMPI Scalable monitoring platform fro the Internet TEQUILA Intra and inter-domain Service Level Specifications Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Projects in this area generally led to significant development of "new research tools and techniques". For instance, the MESCAL project (see presentation below) generated a lot of publications and concrete solutions to support further developments, notably regarding inter-domain QoS across the Internet.
The MESCAL project aimed at proposing and validating scalable, incremental solutions which would enable the flexible deployment and delivery of inter-domain Quality of Service across the Internet. The project was carried out by 3 industry players (France Telecom, Thales and Algonet) and 2 academic research centers, for a total cost of 3.3 million EUR and EC funding of 2.1 million EUR. Besides the direct participants to the project, two external "sponsors" were collaborating to the MESCAL project, Cisco and Alcatel. The former has put some equipment at disposal of the consortium for the lifetime of the project. The latter was involved in TEQUILA, which can be considered as the forerunner MESCAL. Both accepted to share their views on technical matters discussed in the project. As a result, a lot of publications and communications have been produced and the results have been partly used by US universities. Work was also pursued through further projects such as AGAVE. Practically, the MESCAL project outputs should be implemented in corporate networks (VPN), then in consumer solutions.
Furthermore, some projects provided specifications which could serve as a basis for standardisation bodies. CADENUS (see presentation below) and TEQUILA in particular could addressed traffic engineering and service level agreement issues for premium IP networks which are still referred as state of the art in the domain today. More largely, projects in this area could address numerous quality support issues (end- to-end QoS issues, SLA support, mobility management, horizontal/vertical handover, traffic engineering, etc.) and their results were to be implemented afterwards in proprietary solutions. As an example, the ProxiTV project (see presentation in section 5.1.4) ed to the development of an ad hoc solution used by Telekom Austria in 2005 when launching an IPTV service.
The CADENUS project aimed at developing ,and demonstrating a framework for the creation, configuration and provisioning of end-user services with QoS guarantees in Premium IP networks. The project was carried out by numerous participants (13 on the total), including incumbent operators (France Telecom, eircom), equipment and solution vendors and technical universities
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research centers, for a total cost of 7.2 million EUR and EC funding of 3.3 million EUR. Of particular interest is the participation of 3 SMEs in the consortium. CADENUS addressed QoS at the application layers to complement the QoS issues addressed by other projects (AQUILA, at network level , and TEQUILA, at service level). CADENUS could also capitalise on the results and components developed in the frame of the ACTS SUSIE project (development of a charging approach for Premium IP networks), in which a number of CADENUS partners already participated.
Numerous projects in this sub-domain addressed traffic engineering and SLA issues and their achievements still serve as a basis (state-of-the-art) for current developments: • CADENUS in particular proposed a standard way to create and manage Service Level Agreements through the configuration and provisioning of end-user services with QoS guarantees in Premium IP networks • TEQUILA also specified a complete system for Service Level Specification protocols through planning, dimensioning and dynamic control of scalable and qualitative traffic management techniques within the Internet • QOSIPS was another The QOSIPS project developed a system that allows significant project dealing NSPs to monitor and manage network quality of with QoS and offering a service and apply the QoS data and other marketing platform for operators to information to optimise revenue and customer manage SLAs (see details satisfaction. The commercial exploitation of the below) project was carried out by KSS and Ipanema which • the SCAMPI platform could jointly marketed the QOSIPS system and separately marketed their respective individual Pricing provide a flexible Module and Quality Module. They have also used architecture to support a the knowledge acquired from the project to upgrade secure, programmable, multi- existing products and to develop new products. domain and shared monitoring infrastructure.
The research on QoS issues was based on progress in areas such as middleware, signalling protocols, handover, etc. These have been largely addressed, not only in projects in this sub-domain but also in other FP5 domains (mobile technolologies, audiovisual systems… ). Tangible outcome could particularly be seen in the video domain: • HAS video could prototype a video box for a complete home access system • ProxiTV could experiment interactive TV over IP network and the system could be implemented by Telekom Austria for commercial offer (see details in section 5.1.4)
As we could see in the previous sub-domains, projects in this category also concluded with prototypes, testbeds and field trials. Beyond the projects already quoted, we can mention: • the INTERNODE project which set up prototypes of application and client server • the MANTRIP project which could validate its management system on a testbed • the MOEBIUS project which demonstrated healthcare applications over its mobile extranet based platform and assess user acceptance
Collaboration between projects happened in some specific contexts, like Traffic engineering and service agreement: in particular, the projects AQUILA, CADENUS and TEQUILA produced a Joint Deliverable with the common goal of the Premium IP cluster projects for architecture, service and resource management.
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Safety, security and comfort of use The research projects in this category were more focused on the user's point of view and the risks associated with the implementation of new technologies. They covered respectively emergency issues, requirements and system specification for real-time platforms, risks associated with the usage of unsecured networks or complex systems, targetting comfort of users in general.
Exhibit 51 Research topics covered by user oriented RTD projects
Project Topics Dependability for non-safety critical, distributed, embedded automation systems with both IP (inter-site) DEPAUDE and dedicated (intra-site) connections Availability and functioning of vehicle based emergency call systems from any vehicle anywhere in Europe E-MERGE via the development of a X-112 call Open adaptable framework to support the management of trusted Co-operative Inter-Enterprise FORM Environments encompassing telecommunication facilities and business automation systems INTERVAL Real-time requirements, such as timing parameters, in real-time systems Increase of the performance, reliability, availability and safety of complex systems by providing a real-time MAGIC architecture which is able to diagnose abnormal and faulty conditions Tool Kit Platform for the installation of applications for home and building equipment, which would SIRLAN communicate within or outside of the building through any type of communication network TORRENT Testbed for multi-service residential access networks Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Projects in this area could generate close-to-market outputs, especially in terms of innovative or new "operational" systems (products or services). The SIRLAN project was able to create an effective tool kit platform for home and buiding equipment (TV, PC, washing machine, lighting, etc.) to communicate within or outside of the home or the buiding. Some of them could support the development of solutions for embedde systems which should or already could prove very significant for new applications. The INTERVAL project could support critical development in the domain of timed extension to specifications and description language (SDL): the SDL-2000, derived from this porject, is the latest released version completely based on object-orientation, accompanied by a SDL-UML-Profile.
Here again, testbeds and trials could prove that most projects in this category led to tangible outcome: • the DEPAUDE project conducted first tests and feasibility demonstrations to withstand the changes in the dynamic environment • SIRLAN gateway, services and data exchange software were prototyped.
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4.3 Research Capacity Impacts on the Participating Organisations
4.3.1 Impacts at domain level Exhibit 52, below, shows the high contribution of the IST research activities to an increase of skills and competences of R&D staff and knowledge in those areas. To a lesser extent, the research also significantly improved the ability of R&D units to cooperate with their peers, through partnerships, networks or more informal links. However, the relatively low impact measured on the establishment of a critical mass of R&D is of particular concern.
Exhibit 52 Significance of impacts on R&D capabilities
Significance of Impacts on the Organisations' R&D Capabilities (Base: 89 respondents)
Enhanced skills and competence of R&D staff 66% 9% 1%
Enhanced knowledge bases 63% 9% 6%
The ability to form new R&D partnerships and networks 53% 19 % 6% Improved R &D linkages with univ. and research 49% 19 % 7% institutes
Improved access to complementary expertise 35% 28% 12%
Enhanced career prospects for R&D staff 28% 30% 17 %
The establishment of a critical mass of R&D 27% 26% 25%
Improved R &D linkages with business organisations 25% 29% 16 %
Enhanced ability to manage R&D resources 21% 28% 26%
Other impacts on R&D capabilities 7%1%4%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
In order to appreciate the value of these impacts, one needs to consider the status of next generation networks and optical technologies at the time of those projects. This was the time of basic research with a need to progress on the technological bases (what is feasible? which are the best options?) before introducing related technical solutions. Those technologies should lead to new network architectures, new applications and services and new business models, in brief they were to introduce a radical transformation of the telecom model in place for decades but we were at the early stage of those changes.
As shown in Exhibit 53, the technological objective of projects of the broadband domain under FP5 (here referring to optical transmission capacity) appears to be quite in line with global "standards". More genarally, the EU research activity in FP5 was pretty well aligned with the world community research and market trends, in spite of some lacks or deadlocks, which are quite normal in basic research (see section 2.4).
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Exhibit 53 Trend in capacity for terrestrial optical transmission
Trend in capacity for terrestrial optical transmission
10000
1000
100
10
1
capacity per fibre (Gbps) 0.1
0.01 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Source: Réseaux Internet, Téléphonie, Multimédia : Convergences et complémentarités
This can explain why the search for cooperation and the sharing of results were so critical. This domain needs a lot of competencies to cover the various issues at stake. However, universities and public research centres on the one hand and industrial/business organisations on the other hand do not pursue the same objective which can create some frustrations, especially from the public sphere, even if industrial players explain that they are to better use public research results. The concern for public centres is that it looks like a one-way relation. Furthermore, they consider a larger share of public funds should be dedicated to them (see next page).
As is shown in Exhibit 54, below, from the survey responses results that the research activities funded in this domain led to an important strengthening of networks among the research-based organisations (highlighted in yellow) as well as of industry-research collaborations (highlighted in blue); the latter was especially at the benefit of the industry organisations and in particular for the large enterprises. Telcos in particular are very interested in collaborations with academic research (universities, public research labs). Originally, incumbent operators were directly and deeply involved in basic research; they are still involved but, due to competitive pressure, they are now more focused on development and commercial issues and cooperation with universities can clearly serve their needs for long term visions.
Exhibit 54 Significance of Network-oriented Impacts - % "(Very) High significance" responses
Higher education SME Industry- Large Industry- Research org. institute business org. business org.
Improved R&D linkages with univ. and research institutes 48% 57% 43% 50% Improved R&D linkages with business organisations 26% 29% 14% 25% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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As previously explained, the vision is quite different coming from industrial players or from public organisations. Industrial players are generally pleased with cooperation with universities as they can access to complementary expertise and a higher level of research. But participants from the public sphere in particular consider that they should receive more funding compared to industrial players. One interviewee complained that in the USA, public researchers are much more "listened". However, if we refer to the share of public contributions to R&D in private companies, "tranfers" are more important, in absolute and in relative terms, in the USA. Furthermore, another interviewee (from a public research centre) found that EC funds were all the more useful that funds from national governments decrease.
Exhibit 55 IST R&D financing (in billion € for year 2000)
In the EU-15 In the USA 25 90
75 20
"transfers" 60 15 from public "transfers" to private 45 from public 10 to private 30
5 15
0 0 public financing private companies public financing private companies expenditure expenditure
Source: IDATE
In addition to cooperation organised during the projects, the sustainability of the research collaborations beyond the duration of the funded project constituted an important benefit for the improvement of competitiveness of European research in the broadband domain and for knowledge diffusion in the innovation and production system. If the time when FP5 was rolled out was a troubled period for new technology markets and short-term prospects were constrained, it was very important for the European industry to prepare for medium and long-term developments.
4.3.2 Impacts at sub-domain level The effects on new or improved research collaborations were transversal to all sub- domains; however, there was some diversity to be noted in the benefits deriving from project participation for the enhancement of knowledge bases among the different sub- domains.
As shown in Exhibit 56, a very high share of survey respondents involved in Optical Networks projects (79%) indicated highly (or very highly) significant impacts on the knowledge bases, and 71% in this category also indicated significant impacts on competencies and skills of R&D staff . This is in line with the more exploratory research focus of these projects.
The impacts for these two levels were slightly less positive in the other sub-domains; in particular, impacts on knowledge bases were considered highly significant by less than
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half of respondents in the 'safety, security and comfort of use' sub-domain. This certainly means that the challenge for these projects consisted in adapting and implementing in new networks, applications and/or services, processes already in place in existing solutions rather than developing new systems.
Exhibit 56 Significance of Knowledge-oriented Impacts on the Organisations by Sub- domain - % responses (Very) High significance
Network Integration Applications through Safety, Security & Optical Networks (base: 35 resp.) seamless networks Comfort of use (base: (base: 24 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) 15 resp.) Enhanced knowledge bases 79% 63% 53% 47% Enhanced skills and competence of R&D staff 71% 66% 67% 60% The establishment of a critical mass of R&D 25% 29% 40% 13% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The already mentioned relatively low effect measured on critical mass of R&D appeared with less evidence for projects in the Applications sub-domain, where 40% of respondents attributed (very) high significance to impacts in this field.
4.3.3 European Added Value Overall, the EC support was considered as an important factor, not only for project output attainment but also for the impacts on the organisations' R&D capabilities; the stakeholders hardly believed they could achieve the same results without EC funding (see Exhibit 57).
According to various interviewees and the survey results, the cooperation and the sharing of expertise by partners from different countries was overall regarded as one of the main advantage of the FP5 programme.
Exhibit 57 Probability of achieving same results witout EC funding
Probability of Achieving Same Results without EC Funding (Base: 89 respondents)
Project output attainments 61% 10 % 4%
Impacts on R&D capabilities 48% 21% 6%
Impacts on your overall organisation 46% 20% 7%
Impacts on project partners and immediate users 44% 17 % 3%
Impacts on the broader environment 31% 11% 4%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) Low probability M oderate probability (Very) High probability
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Stakeholders interviewed worded it as follows: • "No national or private funding could have been engaged to provide an equivalent basis of people working together"
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• "It enabled different players from different cultures to cooperate in achieving the same goal. This cooperation is very good as people may not have the same ideas on a subject and discussions can enlarge the possibilities" • "An international funding can be a real asset for better harmonisation" • "The projects sustained by the European Commission could not have been organised with national budgets only" European collaboration was also seen as a mean to keep a specific knowledge and not remain behind players from North America or Asia.
We can find evidence of this in the survey: more than 7 respondents out of 10 thought that international collaboration had a (very) positive impact on both output attainments and R&D capabilities – see Exhibit 58.
Exhibit 58 Influence of international collaboration on achievement of results
Influence of International Collaboration on Achievement of Results (Base: 89 respondents)
Project output attainments 72% 3%1%
Impacts on R&D capabilities 71% 4%
Impacts on project partners and immediate users 58% 9%
Impacts on your overall organisation 54% 21%
Impacts on the broader environment 35% 11%
0% 50% 100% (Very) Positive influence No or neutral influence (Very) Negative influence
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Furthermore, joint European research can help for better participation in research at the international level. A representative of ETSI explained: "the EC funding is not only dedicated to obtaining specific technical results but also to create a research community. As a consequence, Europe is 1 to 2 years in advance in terms of "new Internet"(FP7 programme) than USA or Asia, with funding 2 to 3 times higher than in USA. And even it is impossible to implement the results "without" USA and Japan (not possible to create a "next Internet" only in Europe as it would not be efficient), it is quite sure now that when available, this new infrastructure will include European components."
4.3.4 Follow-on Research Exploitation of knowledge gained during research activities as well as of the research outputs themselves occurs through follow-on projects. Depending on the time-to- market of the research results, these follow-on projects have a research character or are implementation/exploitation-oriented.
Exhibit 59 illustrates the survey respondents’ views on the value of their participation in the research for the conduction of follow-on research projects. The survey respondents attributed a relatively high value to the IST research outputs from this perspective; interestingly, this included a high effect on follow-on research to be conducted not only through public funding but also in-house. Organisations indicating a high influence on
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their in-house research were mainly research or industry/business organisations that had specific expertise in the broadband field.
Exhibit 59 Follow-on projects Influence of Participation on Prospects for Follow-on Projects (Base: 89 respondents)
P articipating in other IST RTD projects 65% 11% 1%
Conducting follow-on RTD projects in-house 60% 16 % 1%
P articipating in RTD projects in national programmes 58% 16 % 2%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) Positive influence No or neutral influence Don't know or Not applicable
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
In other words, even though most projects could not transform into immediate industrial solutions, they were able to stimulate the research community for sharing the results and pursuing through follow-on projects. Again, projects of the 'optical networks' sub-domain were particularly illustrative and were considered as contributors to long-term research (see Exhibit 60).
Exhibit 60 Influence of Participation on Prospects for Follow-on Projects - % responses (Very) Positive influence
Optical Network Applications through Safety, Security & Networks Integration seamless networks Comfort of use (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) Participating in other IST RTD projects 67% 66% 73% 53% Participating in RTD projects in national programmes 75% 57% 40% 53% Conducting follow-on RTD projects in-house 63% 54% 53% 73% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Focusing in this section on follow-on RTD projects, one can map the various paths for exploitation of the gained knowledge as illustrated in Exhibit 61.
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Exhibit 61 Knowledge exploitation paths
Other S&T knowledge
Collective knowledge Joint follow-up exploitation measure
IST S&T Project Knowledge
Individual knowledge exploitation Follow-up measure
In-house S&T knowledge
Collective knowledge exploitation ‘Collective exploitation pathways’ are those undertaken by the same group of RTD players, by a sub-group or on the contrary by an extended group; in near-to-all cases, these follow-on research projects are public funded, at European or national level. In other words, research funded in the IST programme in this domain led to important knowledge and technology transfer also to research in national programmes.
The DAVID project is particularly illustrative. On the one hand, the project could appear as a catalyst for national projects. For instance, in France, the ROM (1999-2001), the ROM-EO (2003-2005) and more recently the ECOFRAME (2007-2010) projects could pursue research in the same area. On the other hand, it was followed by a large European initiative: a Network of Excellence, ePhoton/One9, grouping 40 partners and 500 people, was put in place in the frame of FP6.
We could find evidence of this continued collective exploitation in numerous other projects: • The LION project was followed by the NOBEL one during FP6, with more partners • The concept of the MESCAL project was also expanded in the FP6 AGAVE project • The 6POWER project work could be continued in the OPERA project towards a unified PLC framework • A sub-group of the participants in the WINMAN project were involved in the CONTEXT project • The NGN Initiative was followed by the BREAD project during FP6.
9 ePhoton/One was created through the merging of two previous potential proposals in the same technical area called e-Photon and ONe. E-Photon was a broader consortium, including most major universities, research institutes and companies active in research on optical telecommunications and, in particular, on enabling photonic technologies. ONe (acronym for Optical Networks) was a consortium founded inside the IST DAVID project, gathering most major European research activities on optical networking
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An interesting point regarding the NGN Initiative is that the network that was set up at that time (grouping around 100 experts) is still active now. In parallel with the NGN Initiative, the The OPTIMIST project successfully built a OPTIMIST project (see presentation platform for discussion and information exchange, nearby) was clearly dedicated to clustering all IST projects active in the domain of "transversal" information exchange for photonic technologies and optical networking. the participants to cross benefit from Through the organization of workshops and various research work in similar or meetings and the set-up of an efficient platform related areas: it was not a technical for information exchange, the project was able to encourage collaboration between projects; it research project per se but it was able to however also acted as a support to the ongoing promote inter-project cooperation and elaboration of the EU IST Roadmap on Optical to foster synergies. It could act as a Communications. Due to its strong position and catalyst for technical projects in the the creation of an industry association, the first domain of optical technologies. project was extended (OPTIMIST II). TThe NGN-Lab was an accompanying measure aiming at providing a platform for inter-working and Testbeds can not be grouped interoperability tests in heterogeneous environments. with other collective knowledge In particular, it could act as a testbed for new tools but they clearly constitute technologies such as heterogeneous IPv4/IPv6 a shared platform for RTD networking and differentiated QoS in IP networks, projects to test interworking developed in RTD projects. and interoperability of the new The platform was also open to similar Eurescom projects technologies with previous and could create synergies between both programmes, solutions and/or between them. with significant impact on standardisation.
Individual knowledge exploitation ‘Individual exploitation’ mostly consists in exploitation of the acquired S&T knowledge through in-house follow-on projects. As mentioned before, organisations effectively opting for this ‘knowledge exploitation’ model were typically large research and/or industry and business organisations that possessed the needed research capacity, in terms of human as well as financial resources, to carry on RTD activities without external funding.
Alcatel is particularly illustrative here. The group could maintain a strong position in the world optical transmission market (see exhibit 40 on page 81) and use the results of EU projects to build or at least to consolidate its expertise in the PON technology and more largely in NGN technologies. Alcatel (through Alcatel CIT, Alcatel SEL and Opto Plus) was in particular leader of the DAVID project, one of the highest funded research project in FP5/broadband domain (see description in section 4.2.2). According to a representative of the group's research team, scientific and technical impacts were very significant, both for research competitiveness and for research capacity; the project has "created a strong knowledge which is fundamental today (i.e. in 2007) for Alcatel- Lucent […], it has prepared the required basis to do best choices and go in a technical direction compliant with the future needs". In other words, at a time when technical options were still open, the project could offer the industrial group an opportunity to deeply explore the domain. In addition, "the knowledge acquired by the partners thanks to the project positioned them as international experts in the domain". As an example, Alcatel could participate in several international conferences dedicated to those technologies and is chairing the Photonic Switching Conference, with experts joining from all parts of Europe, from Asia and from North America.
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Another representative from Alcatel indicated that EC funded projects could help industrial players to investigate some research tracks which were not on their current roadmaps (not on the list of priorities, too risky…) but should be good to "have a look".
Alcatel totalled 7.8 million EUR of FP5 funding in the broadband domain, through 13 participations of various subsidiaries (Alcatel CIT, Alcatel SEL, Alcatel Bell…), mainly dedicated to the optical networks and network integration subdomains (9 participations receiving a combined 7 million € of EC funds). This amount is only little compared to the group's total R&D effort. Alcatel could spend a total 10 billion EUR in R&D over the 1999-2002 period; which means that the EC funds contributed to less than 0.3% of this amount10! However, R&D expenses cover huge amounts of money for products and industrial development but much less money was spent in (basic) research; using the breakdown published for 2003 (annual expenses of 218 million EUR in research and 1 375 million EUR in development), we could estimate that the group spent (only!) 1.3-1.4 billion EUR in research during FP5 and that EC contribution could account for up to 2.5% of basic research in NGN technologies. Furthermore, Alcatel could benefit from participations in those projects to build or maintain its leadership in a number of segments in the broadband domain. The group has remained an uncontested leader in broadband access through its strong presence on DSL products (especially IP DSLAM) and optical fibre access solutions, competing with growing Chinese competitors (ZTE, Huawei and UTStarcom). The group is notably recognised as a leader in SDH and DWDM optical transport equipment. It is also largely involved in the transformation of legacy networks to full IP architecture using next generation technologies (IMS, 3G mobile networks, WDM, wireline broadband acccess) increasing network's capacity and allowing the delivery of multiple services.
Alcatel was the main "beneficiary" of EC funding in the broadband domain. But numerous large industrial players could capitalize on FP5 projects to maintain or improve their positions in this area. In the vendor segment, Siemens was n°2, receiving EC funding of 6.6 million €. The group (which merged its public telecom activities with Nokia into Nokia Siemens Networks) is now well positioned in GPON fibre network equipment. For instance, Siemens has been selected by the Danish utility company EnergiMidt to upgrade its access network using GPON technology allowing multiple play services transport.
Large telcos were also largely involved: in total, the 5 largest European incumbent operators received 13.6 million € of EC funding during FP5 in the broadband domain, which is in average 3.4 million € per year. This represents only 1.3 to 1.5% of the total R&D budget of operators but it was highly appreciated as: • the relative effort (measured through R&D/revenues) of telcos is declining over time (see Exhibit 63) • despite competitive environment, telcos are still very interested in sharing efforts in basic research (" an efficient and economical way to get access to future technologies") • the EU programmes are an incentive for such cooperation ("to work together on issues which would not have been on the current agenda otherwise").
10 0.3% would be the result of our calculations, assuming that broadband technologies (as defined in this study), which accounted for around 25% of the group's revenues, would also account for 25% of R&D expenses, But R&D is certainly more significant in new technologies than in "traditional" segments.
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Exhibit 62 R&D as a % of revenues of European telcos* 3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
* Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, BT, Telecom Italia, Telefónica Source: IDATE, from operators' data and estimates
4.4 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the broader environment
4.4.1 Impacts at domain level Overall, the stakeholders interviewed and the survey respondents assessed positively the effects of the research results on the S&T community and in particular on the S&T developments in their specific fields of research (see Exhibit 63, below).
Exhibit 63 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the Broader Environment
Significance of Impacts on the R&D Capabilities in the Broader Environment (Base: 89 respondents)
On the course of scientific & technological 27% 37% 9% developments in specific fields
On the scientific and technological community at large 21% 33% 17 %
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
As already mentioned, some horizontal projects (such as OPTIMIST) could serve as an exchange platform for researchers to share their results and to create a real dynamics at the European level, and even at a more global level. Another illustration of this cooperation within the research community is the close relationships that could be created between some projects: for instance, partners of the LION, METEOR and WINMAN projects exchanged their deliverables at each stage (see presentation of the WINMAN project in Section 4.2.2).
Several projects –and especially the ones in the 'optical networks' sub-domain- furthermore directly targeted the S&T community as end-user. They developed solutions which were not to lead immediately to new products or new services but
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which could "improve the context of the research domain" and "improve the background [of the partners] on the research subject". These projects proved to be very useful in terms of skill improvements for the research community.
Finally, an important factor for the achievement of impacts on the broader S&T community was the level as well as quality of the knowledge transfer implemented by the research projects. Nearly two thirds of survey respondents (65%) indicated publications as important outputs of their research. In fact, the technical definition of broadband was considerably upgraded due to the extended capabilities of optical technologies11, and the research community had a need to disseminate and discuss preliminary results on this matter (see Exhibit 45 in Section 4.2.1).
A total of 1 070 publications (770 peer-reviewed conference papers and 300 journal articles) were declared during the survey. Taking into account only the respondents who could provide figures, the averages are 11.5 conference papers and 5.4 journal articles per participant. Based upon the WING questionnaire surveys in other domains, project participants in the broadband domain were slightly less active in their know- how transfer to the Scientific and Technological community.
4.4.2 Impacts at sub-domain level Respondents to the survey indicated highly differentiated impact levels on the broader S&T community depending on the sub-domain of research they were involved in. As is shown in Exhibit 63: impacts were indicated in particular by close to 50% of the participants in the Applications through seamless networks and in the Optical Networks sub- domains, whereas especially participants in research in the Safety, Security and Comfort of use sub-domain had a far less positive view on impacts achieved in this sphere.
Exhibit 64 Impacts on R&D capabilities in the Broader Environment per sub-domain - % responses impacts of (very) high significance
Applications Optical Network Safety, Security through seamless Networks Integration & Comfort of use networks (base: 15 (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) resp.) On the course of scientific & technological developments in specific fields 42% 17% 47% 7% On the scientific and technological community at large 25% 17% 40% 7% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
In terms of level of knowledge transfer to the R&D community, 83% of the respondents in the Optical Networks sub-domain attributed high importance to publications as research outputs, while in the remaining sub-domains this percentage does not exceed 60%. This result is not surprising, considering that this sub-domain covered the most basic research projects. In line with the considerations above, especially respondents in the sub-domains ‘Optical networks’ and ‘Applications through seamless networks’ indicated intense know-
11 One interviewee mentioned that one merit of the project he was active in was to confirm the idea that broadband speeds should be definitely over the rates provided by DSL technologies. For him, broadband means speeds higher than 100 Mbps and, even, closer to 1 Gbps.
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how transfer activities, resulting in close to 15% of the respondents publishing more than 10 journal articles and approximately half delivering more than 10 conference papers (see Exhibit 65).
Exhibit 65 Outputs in detail per sub-domain - % responses 10 or more outputs
Applications Optical Network Safety, Security through seamless Networks Integration & Comfort of use networks (base: 15 (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) resp.) Number of journal articles 13% 3% 13% Number of peer reviewed conference papers 54% 23% 40% 13% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
4.5 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts
In this sub-section, and based upon the analysis reported in the preceding sub-sections, conclusions are drawn on the impacts achieved in this impact category.
The research activities funded under FP5 were expected to lead to scientific and technological breakthroughs that would strengthen European excellence in the communications technologies and provide effective network solutions to support advanced applications and services.
4.5.1 Scientific and technological breakthroughs Scientific and technological impacts in this domain were especially expected to occur thanks to the upgrading of optical technologies that would improve quality and speed of transmission and provide a strong support to enhanced and/or innovative applications and services.
The effectiveness of the research activities in this domain in reaching these research objectives was relatively high:
• The overall majority of the projects successfully completed their work programme and reached expected results, especially regarding planned project outputs and effects on R&D capabilities;
• Some difficulties were arising due to the "internet bubble burst", which created an adverse market trend on new communications technologies. However, this could affect time-to-market for a significant part of the projects of this domain but not the intrinsic interest of the research work which was carried out;
• Some projects, particularly in the 'applications' sub-domain could lead to practical results, with market applications in the IPTV for instance (PROXiTV) or in the internet traffic measurement (SCAMPI).
In fact, the major concern deals with market developments which were supposed to follow research outputs -- if not immediately, at least in the short-medium term - and which, for some of them are not yet there. This is particularly the case for projects in the 'optical networks' and 'network integration' sub-domains. In the former, developments
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regarding 40 Gbps links were achieved but solutions based upon could not be implemented in real networks as operators reduced their capital expenditure after the "internet bubble burst" and were reluctant to introduce significant changes in their networks. The market is now more mature for those technologies and 40 Gbps links should be implemented within the next two years. The period between the end of FP5 and now could be used to pursue research and improve skills and know how in that domain. This means that, although effective standards will not be directly linked with FP5 projects, these projects have significantly contributed to stimulate research and their outputs could serve as a basis for more recent developments. In the 'network integration' area, a lot of projects were based on IPv6 deployment and they were faced also with a problem of time-to-market, as IPv6 was to be implemented later than anticipated and very progressively. Here again, the impacts could not be seen in direct contributions to operations but those projects could introduce the scientific community into a very complex area.
Significance of scientific and technological achievements can be summarised in the following table.
Exhibit 66 Significance of scientific and technological achievements for potential impacts in each sub-domain
Optical networks Critical value for Europe to maintain technological competitiveness Bridging the digital divide Network integration Enabling multimedia applications and e-services Towards ambient intelligence Applications through Value added services in a highly competitive environment seamless networks Safety, security and Increase of dependability comfort of use Increase of user friendliness Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
4.5.2 Research capacity impacts
Enhanced skills and competences The IST research activities in this domain substantially contributed to the enhancement of skills and competencies among the involved stakeholder groups and in the Scientific and Technological Community at large:
• Significant impacts on the knowledge base of the project participants were visible especially among stakeholders involved in RTD projects in the 'optical networks' sub-domain (79%); overall, the survey respondents as well as interviewed stakeholders attributed high value to the level of research contributions in IST-funded projects;
• The impacts of cooperation and sharing of results, within the projects themselves or through dedicated or large open exchange platforms, were also very positively assessed. International collaboration was a real asset as researchers could take into account various national inputs and enlarge their vision;
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• These positive impacts were achieved also through dissemination actions thanks to numerous publications, either through journal articles or through conference papers (in average, close to 24 peer reviewed articles and papers per RTD project represented in the survey).
Knowledge cross-fertilisation and competence integration resulted being the corner stones for these significant impacts on the research capacities of both the participating organisations and the scientific and technological community at large.
Extended RTD networks IST-funded research acted as an important platform for the strengthening and creation of many industry-academia and ‘research-research’ RTD partnerships:
• Significant impacts on the ability to form new R&D partnerships and to improve R&D linkages with universities and research institutes were indicated by half of the survey respondents;
• Stakeholders interviewed – and especially large industry organisations - confirmed that the consolidation of research teams, especially through inter- relations with public centres, was very beneficial and was one of their organisations’ major strategic objectives for participation in IST funded research. The sustainability of the IST-induced research collaborations beyond the duration of the funded project constituted therefore an important benefit for the improvement of competitiveness of European research in this domain and for knowledge diffusion in the innovation system.
Exhibit 67 Transience of the impacts
Transience of the Impacts (Base: 89 respondents)
Impacts on R&D capabilities 44% 21% 12 %
Impacts on your overall organisation 40% 25% 10 %
Impacts on the broader environment 30% 11% 13 %
Impacts on project partners and immediate users 29% 30% 8%
0% 50% 100%
Long lifetime: 3-5 years + Very long: more than 5 years M oderate lifetime: 2 - 3 years Short lifetime: 1-2 years + Very short: less than 1 year
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Encouraged further RTD Overall, the survey respondents attributed a high value to the IST research outputs and outcomes for follow-on research:
• More than 60% of the survey respondents indicated high influence for follow-on research to be conducted through public funds and/or in-house;
• Public-funded follow-on projects led to the creation of long-term research networks involving the same industry and/or research organisations or extended
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to similar groupings. During the analysis exercise, concrete evidence was found on 6 follow-on RTD measures, focusing on the optimisation of the IST project results or on the integration of the projects’ outputs within further research work.
• In other words, research funded in the IST programme in this domain led to important knowledge and technology transfer - also - to research in national programmes.
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5 Economic Impacts
The following section outlines the main findings comparing the planned and actual impacts in the economic sphere.
Exhibit 68 shows how Outputs and Outcomes in this impact category were expected to lead to the Planned Impacts.
Exhibit 68 Economic Impacts
Outputs & outcomes Short-to-medium Term Impacts Long-Term Impacts
New or improved processes Exploitation and performance impacts
New or upgraded services Decrease of operating expenses for European industry New or upgraded products telcos and service providers competitiveness
Entry on new markets Supply of very high speed networks and services to corporate users and Increase of productivity New or strengthened consumers business relationships
Economic welfare Improved interworking of networks and devices Industrial & Competitiveness Impacts Potential benefits for More secure and easy-to- technology/service use services Development of new markets providers
Increase of market shares
Large scale Benefits for users through experimentations and Creation of new companies (start ups, more reliable and cost testbeds spin offs…) effective solutions
In its 2006 report “Industrial R&D – Economic and Policy Analysis”12, the European Commission highlighted: “The commercial exploitation of research involves making improvements to existing products, introducing new products and services where they meet demand, and redesigning production methods. Although such innovations are implemented at the level of the firm they have spill-overs to other parts of the economy and lead to constant changes in the composition of gross domestic product (GDP).”
In line with the above consideration, this impact study examines both impacts at ‘micro’ level, i.e. the organisations that were directly involved in the research activities (did the EC funds help to boost their industrial competitiveness? to access new markets or develop new products? to create new companies?), and ‘meso’ level, i.e. the market sector (effects on the structure of the European industry and its competitiveness in the global context, IPR activity)
12 Brandsma et al.,”Industrial R&D - Economic and Policy Analysis Report 2006”, DGJRC-IPTS and DGRTD-C, European Commission, 2007
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5.1 Exploitation and Performance Impacts on Organisations
5.1.1 Introduction When considering the impacts of the research activities at economic level, one needs to take into account two major factors that may influence the potential level of impacts, i.e. the nature of the research funded and the characteristics of its outputs, as well as the economic context.
In Section 1.4.3, the project portfolio analysis led to the finding that especially the respondents involved in the Optical Networks sub-domain considered their research activities to be of high technical complexity and risk; not surprisingly, this sub-domain was also characterised by a high level of longer-term research. From the analysis reported in Section 4.2.2 resulted that a high number of closer-to-the-market outputs were however achieved in all sub-domains, even though especially in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use one (see Exhibit 46).
From market context point of view, instead, it is important to realise that most projects were carried out in 2002-2003, which is just after the burst of the "internet bubble". Some of the participants in the projects called it also the "optical bubble", clearly indicating that this impacted greatly the industrial prospects of the research activities in this domain. On the medium and long term, however, the effects appeared more balanced. Overcapacity resulting from the 1998-2000 investment cycle having largely been absorbed by the explosion in Internet traffic, except for a few long distance links, the optical transmission market started to rebound in 2004 and the fundamentals of the market seem now healthier for the two major technologies deployed (SDH/SONET and WDM) based on: • Migration of fixed access networks to very high broadband (VDSL and FTTH) primarily in heavily populated regions; • The introduction of services requiring larger capacities such as video and television over IP; • The construction of new fixed and mobile infrastructure in emerging regions.
5.1.2 Impacts at domain level A general view on the economic impacts achieved by the participating organisations, according to the survey respondents, is provided in Exhibit 69.
These project partners indicated that they drew benefit from involvement in the FP5 research activities especially in the intangible sphere, i.e. through an enhancement of their capability for innovation and enhanced reputation and image (indicated by close to 50%); one in three also mentioned an improved competitive position and enhanced production and delivery capabilities. Tangible benefits were far less visible.
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Exhibit 69 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation – RTD projects
Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation (Base: 89 respondents)
Enhanced reputation and image 49% 27% 3%
Ability to carry out new activities or enter new areas 44% 27% 10 %
Improved competitive position 31% 27% 18 % Enhanced ability to produce or deliver new products, 25% 28% 22% processes or services The formation of new business entities (e.g. spin-offs) 11% 4% 46%
Improved commercial linkages with other organisations 10 % 20% 31%
Access to new markets 8% 12 % 37%
Increased profitability 6% 13 % 38%
Increased turnover 4% 18 % 37%
Enhanced productivity 4% 15 % 39%
Improved market share 4%7% 40%
Employment gains through increased business 3% 15 % 39%
Employment losses through enhanced productivity 2% 48%
Other impacts on your overall organisation 4%2%7%
0% 50% 100% (Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The limited level of tangible impacts indicated by the project participants leads to the consideration that clearly these economic impacts are more long-term. The survey respondents confirmed this interpretation: half of them indicated that their research outputs were relevant but in 2007 not yet taken up by the market; very few indicated an out-dating or lack of market relevance of their results.
Exhibit 70 Impacts in 2007
Impacts in 2007 (Base: 89 respondents)
outputs relevant to contemporary developments but not 52% yet taken up
direct contribution to recent/contemporary developments 29% outputs relevant to technological developments at the time 8% but now out-of-date,
no outputs of great relevance to recent/contemporary 2% developments
0% 50% 100%
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
We must keep in mind here the radical changes to be introduced by developments in the broadband domain. On the infrastructure side in particular, it is not just an evolution based on existing networks but something new based on rebuilding parts of the network, in particular in the local loop. Telcos were reluctant to invest huge amounts of money in their networks, all the more because broadband access could be first introduced through the copper loop (based on DSL technology) or through coax cables (cable modem) and now serves a very large population: in average, 28% of EU-27 households were connected to broadband at the
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end of 2006 with several countries (Denmark, the Netherlands) at more than 50%. But competition pressure and the rapid increase in traffic per user now create incentives for deployment of very high-speed networks based on optical access. NTT in Japan, Verizon and AT&T in the USA are well advanced but European operators have recently announced programmes to deploy fibre access networks in their turn. Several projects, dedicated to access networks, could however lead to immediate industrial developments. In Spain for example, electricity companies (Endesa, Union Fenosa, Iberdrola) were granted in 2003 a licence extension and could upgrade their network to PLC to offer broadband access services to their customers. Besides internal research work, those developments could also benefit from the achievements of the 6POWER project, mainly supported by Spanish organizations. Spain could thus be home to the most advanced industrial projects in PLC in Europe even if, as the standardisation process could not be completed, market developments were very limited.
5.1.3 Impacts on the stakeholders It is particularly interesting to consider the economic impacts on the participating organisations at stakeholder level, even though the overall profile of the impacts does not change significantly (i.e. tangible impacts remain limited). Exhibit 71 illustrates this analysis.
Exhibit 71 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation per Stakeholder – % responses impacts of (very) high significance
Higher Industry- Research education business organisations: institutes: organisations: 23 resp. 28 resp. 31 resp. Enhanced reputation and image 48% 79% 23% Ability to carry out new activities or enter new areas 52% 50% 38% Enhanced ability to produce or deliver new products, 17% 18% 30% processes or services Improved competitive position 22% 46% 26% Increased turnover 7% 5% Increased profitability 9% 7% 4% Enhanced productivity 9% 4% 4% Employment gains through increased business 4% 5% Improved market share 4% 8% Access to new markets 9% 14% Improved commercial linkages with other organisations 17% 9% The formation of new business entities (e.g. spin-offs) 9% 21% 5% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Industry/business stakeholders drew benefit of the research activities in particular in terms of an enhanced ability to innovate their product/services portfolio (indicated by one in three). An improvement of the competitive positioning was gained by one in four; close to 15% of these stakeholders also gained access to new markets. Project participants indicating such positive effects on their competitive positioning included Alcatel Space Industries, British Telecommunications, Siemens AG, Telefonica, and T- Systems Nova GmbH.
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Half of the research stakeholders, instead, indicated impacts on the innovation of their activities, leading to – especially for the Higher Education Institutes – to an improvement of their competitive positioning. Most interesting is that one in five of the Higher Education Institutes directly attributed the formation of a new business entity to the research activities, while approximately the same number of Research Institutes drew the benefit of improving its commercial networks. These survey results seem to indicate an important contribution of the research activities in this domain to an enhanced involvement and a more active role of the research organisations in the market.
5.1.4 Impacts at sub-domain level Exhibit 72 illustrates the economic and performance impacts on the participating organisations at domain level.
Exhibit 72 Significance of Impacts on the Overall Organisation per sub-domain - % responses of (very) high significance
Optical Network Applications Safety, Networks Integration through seamless Security &
(base: 24 (base: 35 networks Comfort of use resp.) resp.) (base: 15 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) Enhanced reputation and image 54% 49% 53% 40% Ability to carry out new activities or enter 42% 49% 60% 20% new areas Enhanced ability to produce or deliver new 13% 14% 53% 40% products, processes or services Improved competitive position 21% 37% 47% 20% Increased turnover 6% 13% Increased profitability 4% 3% 13% 7% Enhanced productivity 4% 3% 13% Employment gains through increased 6% 7% business Improved market share 11% Access to new markets 11% 20% Improved commercial linkages with other 13% 11% 13% organisations The formation of new business entities (e.g. 8% 9% 20% 13% spin-offs) Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Striking in this overview of impacts is especially the predominance of positive results in the Applications through seamless networks sub-domain and the relatively low impacts in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use sub-domain.
In this context it needs to be reminded, in fact, that respondents in these two sub- domains – and especially in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use one – attributed a high importance to the commercial and economic goals for their research (see Exhibit 9 in Section 1.4.3 on Research Characteristics).
Trying to explain such a difference of effects between 2 sub-domains with similar objectives (at least for commercial and economic issues), we can consider the different
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nature of outputs for each of them. Solutions could go directly to market in the first case (the Applications sub-domain, see in particular results of the ProxiTV or SCAMPI projects discussed hereafter) and bring effective innovation in products and services. As for the other sub-domain, outputs are more conceptual and cannot transform into stand-alone products, or being the market leadership held by oversea companies (i.e. USA) and independent third-party industry (e.g. GNSS).
Thus, different projects in the Applications sub- The objective of the ProxiTV project domain could lead to practical solutions, which was to develop a proxy could be implemented and marketed. The PROXiTV infrastructure to deliver high quality project (see details in box) was one of the first steps multimedia content to end-users of development towards IPTV which has then connected to broadband local loops enjoyed some success and which is now rapidly (ADSL). Beyond the software development spreading in Europe. Telekom Austria, the project for technical operation of the system leader, could launch its own IPTV services in March (data transport, image compression, 2006. etc.), ProxiTV also provided the The SCAMPI project, which aimed at developing a functionalities for a commercial machine to monitor and measure Internet traffic, exploitation of the system, such as could end with the creation of a start-up to operate subscriber management, security, the machine. This company could serve a rapidly billing event generation, support for growing demand and is now making money. audience measurement.
However, positive results in terms of exploitation could also be seen for projects in the other sub-domains. Regarding Optical networks, Telecom Italia, for instance, could adopt some of the outputs of the LION project in its own network; more largely, the project enabled the optimisation of transport networks, therefore leading to a decrease in operating expenses for telcos. Vendors could also improve some components of their transmission equipment solutions.
Even though research in this sub-domain appeared to be generally far from market developments, interviewees were overall optimistic concerning long-term prospects. A responsible of the ATLAS project explained that 40 Gbps links will probably be implemented in transmission systems over the next two years (i.e. 2008-2009); the only concern is that economic impacts have suffered a 5-year delay.
The ATLAS project had the objective to implement a fibre-optic WDM transmission system capable of delivering an aggregate capacity of 1 Terabit/s over distances in the 500-1,000 km range. Large industry players (Pirelli, Thales) and various academic research centres carried out the project, for a total cost of 5.6 million EUR and EC funding of 2.9 million EUR. The basic challenge of the project was the definition and implementation of 40 Gbps links on fiber optics. Unfortunately, first outcomes were delivered in 2002, just at the time of the burst of the "optical bubble" and optical systems kept being based on 10 Gbps solutions already developed. However, research in this area could be pursued and solutions based on higher speed links should appear in the near future, although standards could not be directly derived from the ATLAS project.
As for projects in the Network integration sub-domain, an interviewee, who participated in different projects regarding wireless/satellite communications (BRAHMS, GEOCAST, SUITED, WINE) also indicated that research results could quite immediately help operators and manufacturers to improve services to end users.
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Demonstrator projects were also a mean for operators to test new solutions and prepare for future deployments. Some players implemented optical rings developed in the frame of the METEOR project at experimental stage.
Furthermore, if large vendors and operators were reluctant to invest in new technical solutions at a time when they were constrained financially, smaller companies could prove to have more flexibility and find ways to commercially exploit project results. Algonet, a Greek service provider specialised in VoIP, could for instance use outputs of the MESCAL project (see presentation in section 4.2.2) to improve its QoS solution. In the Euro6IX project, the 3 SMEs participating were also mentioned as main beneficiaries. Regarding SMEs, an interviewee from ETSI clearly stated that the European Commission has also the responsibility to support them: "The EC cannot afford to stay focused on large companies as SMEs are also very good in terms of innovation."
The goal of the Euro6IX project was to support the rapid introduction of IPv6 in Europe through the design and deployment of a native Pan-European IPv6 network (the Euro6IX testbed). The Euro6IX project was one of the most important initiatives in the broadband domain, both on the participation plane (18 stakeholders involved) and on the budget plane (total cost of 15;5 million EUR and EC funding of 7.7 million EUR). In particular, the major 5 European incumbent telcos (Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, BT, Telecom Italia and Telefónica) took part in this project. To be noted also, a Spanish SME, Consulintel, specialised in IPv6 issues, acted as technical manager of the project. Outputs of the project were very significant. On the one hand, a specific GIX could be developed, linking the networks of the telcos participating in the project but also with connections to the USA, to Latin America and to Asia and telcos could experiment new services with panels of real end users. On the other hand, the project could foster the cross-country cooperation in a highly competitive sector, bringing more synergies and better use of the European knowledge and innovations; the role of the European Commission proved to be fundamental to ensure this good cooperative environment.
More generally, research on QoS for Internet services could help network providers, service providers and application suppliers in optimising their business model both for cost savings and to act quickly with appropriate configurations. Users could also benefit from those developments with the cost effective supply of services at different QoS (SLA definitions).
5.1.5 Intellectual Property Rights At overall domain level, close to 10% of the respondents considered Patent Applications an important output of their research activities.
When looking into the responses at sub-domain level, however, one notices that 1 in 4 respondents in the Optical Networks sub-domain attributed a high importance to patent applications as outputs of the research (see Exhibit 73).
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Exhibit 73 Importance of the outputs by sub-domain - % responses (very) High Importance
Optical Network Applications Safety, Networks Integration through seamless Security &
(base: 24 (base: 35 networks Comfort of use resp.) resp.) (base: 15 resp.) (base: 15 resp.) Patent applications 25% 3% 7% Copyrights, trademarks, registered designs, licences etc. 7% 7% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The high importance of patent applications specifically in the Optical Networks sub- domain was confirmed by the responses, provided by 28 of the 89 respondents, in relation to the number of IPR applications presented by their own organisations and deriving from the research activities. In total, the research activities were stated to have led to 99 applications; 47 derived from research in the Optical Networks sub-domain while 39 derived from research in the Network Integration sub-domain (see Exhibit 74).
Exhibit 74 Number of applications for patents, trademarks, registered designs etc. by sub- domain
Total N° of Sub-domain Project acronym N° of respondents applications ATLAS 2 12 FASHION 1 12 TOPRATE 3 9 Optical Networks DAVID 1 5 STOLAS 3 5 HARMONICS 1 3 METEOR 1 1 Euro6IX 1 20 FAIN 2 5 GCAP 1 5 Network Integration AQUILA 2 4 SUITED 1 3 6HOP 1 1 WINE 1 1 CADENUS 2 5 Applications through seamless M3I 1 3 networks SCAMPI 1 2 Safety, security and comfort of use MAGIC 2 2 Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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Interesting in this context is also that especially Large Industry Organisations (17%) attributed high importance to the IPR applications resulting from the research activities. Furthermore, as results from Exhibit 75, these organisations were also the ones who especially indicated IPR applications deriving from the research results: in total 60 applications were presented by industry/business organisations, against 10 applications by Research Institutes and 12 by Higher Education.
Not surprisingly, the key players in the European broadband sector were the most active participants concerning IPR applications: large equipment manufacturers (Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia) and major telcos (Telefónica, France Telecom, BT) were responsible for two thirds of them.
Exhibit 75 Number of IPR applications per typology of organisation
Organisation Nr of Sub-domain Project Organisation Typology Applications CADENUS Martel 4 Applications M3I BT 3 seamless networks SCAMPI Forthnet SA 2 Network Integration Euro6IX Telefonica I+D SAU 20 DAVID Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland AG 5 Industry/ FASHION Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH&Co KG 12 business HARMONICS Alcatel Lucent 3 organisation Optical Networks STOLAS Alcatel-Lucent Nederland B.V. 2 TOPRATE Alcatel-Lucent Deutschland AG 4 TOPRATE France Telecom 3 MAGIC S.A.T.E. S.r.l. 1 Safety, Security & SIPRO Sistemi Integrati per l'Innovazione Comfort SIRLAN 1 di Processo srl Applications CADENUS Fraunhofer FOKUS 1 seamless networks Research FAIN Jozef Stefan Institute 1 Institute Network Integration GCAP LAAS-CNRS 5 SUITED DLR 3 FAIN NTUA 4 Network Integration WINE Queens University Belfast 1 METEOR TU Eindhoven 1 Higher STOLAS IMEC-Ghent University 1 Education Optical Networks STOLAS Technical University of Denmark 2 TOPRATE Universidad Politecnica de Valencia 2 Safety, Security & MAGIC INPG UJF CNRS 1 Comfort Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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5.2 Industrial and Competitiveness Impacts at Sector Level
The analysis of the impacts achieved in the field of competitiveness enhancement focuses on the question whether IST funded research had fostered innovation in this market sector, for example through the creation of new markets. Furthermore, the development of standards is a fundamental requirement for the enhancement of the European industry competitiveness.
The survey questionnaire respondents provided a first indication on impacts in this field - see Exhibit 76. Close to 50% of these project partners were of the opinion that their research had an impact at sector level, of moderate to high significance, in terms of the development of standards as well as of new and existing markets.
Exhibit 76 Significance of Industrial & Competitiveness Impacts on the Broader Environment
Significance of Industrial & Competitiveness Impacts on the Broader Environment (Base: 89 respondents)
On the development of new and existing standards 16 % 33% 22%
On the development of new and existing markets 15 % 30% 25%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The in-depth analysis related to the impacts on standardisation is covered in the following Section 6 on Policy and Regulation Impacts.
5.2.1 Impacts on Market Development Focusing therefore in this section on the impacts related to the development of new markets, an indication on the market sector potentially drawing benefit of the research activities is provided by the analysis at sub-domain level. As is shown in Exhibit 77, a highly positive impact was indicated especially for the research projects in the Applications sub-domains.
Exhibit 77 Impacts on the development of new and existing markets – per sub-domain
Overall impacts on the Impacts of (Very) Impacts of Moderate
Market Developments High significance significance
Optical Networks (base: 24 resp.) 33% 8% 25% Network Integration (base: 35 resp.) 45% 14% 31% Applications through seamless networks (base: 15 resp.) 60% 27% 33% Safety, Security & Comfort of use (base: 15 resp.) 46% 13% 33% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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However, the in-depth analysis of the impact indications provided by the industry/business organisations showed that these organisations considered impacts on market developments deriving also from research in the Network Integration sub-domain (see Exhibit 78). Most importantly, 10 of these 17 organisations were active in the Telecom network operations sector.
Exhibit 78 Impacts on the development of new and existing markets – business/industry stakeholders
ICT equipment Software IT service Telecom network manufacturer development provision operation United Monolithic ATLAS Semiconductors SAS Optical DAVID Alcatel SEL AG networks FASHION Siemens AG STOLAS Telenor Communication AS Diseno de Sistemas en 6POWER Silicio S.A. Nederlands Omroep BASS produktie Bedrijf N.V. BRAHMS Alcatel Space Industries Network Integration BRAHMS France Telecom British Telecommunications Euro6IX plc Euro6IX Telefónica I&D SA Euro6IX T-Systmes Nova GmbH IASON Alcatel SEL AG British Telecommunications M3I plc Applications Thales Research & MESCAL Technology (UK) limited QOSIPS Ipanema Technologies FORM UH Communications A/S Safety etc. SIRLAN Sipro S.R.L Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007 Notes: in the survey questionnaire, respondents had the possibility to indicate multiple areas of activity for their organisation
Clearly, these impacts indications need to be set within the context of the project participants’ assessment in relation to the impacts on the course of developments in technology/product areas. From these data results that the most ‘impacted’ area is the IP networks one (see Exhibit 79).
One can also argue that the rapid increase in broadband deployment in Europe over the past years is partly due to the fact the EC enhanced several projects about alternative technologies (satellite, Power Line Communications). For the operators, this interest in alternative technologies may have been considered as a threat and therefore motivated them to accelerate the deployment of DSL solutions.
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Exhibit 79 Significance of impacts on the course of developments in technology/product areas
Significance of impacts on the course of developments in technological/product areas (Base: 89 respondents)
IP n etwor ks 49% 12 % 9%
Access devices 22% 13 % 27%
Mobile access 19 % 12 % 36%
WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) networks 18 % 4% 40%
Fixed terrestrial access 17 % 17 % 34%
Optical transmission 15 % 9% 39%
LAN 10 % 27% 29%
Fixed satellite access 8% 7% 49%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The high impact perceived on IP networks is quite natural as most projects were, more or less directly, to support the development of applications over IP; providing capacities in response to the growing need of data or video transmission, ensuring quality of service for those applications, securing transactions over IP, etc. Not only vendors and telecom operators could benefit from those developments but also software developers, content providers, etc.
For the other areas, we could see that product developments were faced, at least in the medium term, with adverse market developments. For instance, DSL modems (or cable modems) still constitute the basic access devices for broadband services. In Europe, fiber optic access networks are just emerging now and should affect the access device market for the years to come.
The low perceived impact on WDM and optical transmission products is certainly related to the fact that the innovative solutions which were supposed to come out of the broadband projects (40 Gbps links, IPv6) were not yet marketed by vendors or implemented in operators' networks. In all cases, this does not mean that research reached deadlock but that time-to-market was longer than expected.
5.2.2 Creation of spin-off companies The creation of spin-off companies, being typically highly innovative organisations, is overall considered to be of high importance for the enhancement of industrial competitiveness. Overall, according to the survey respondents, the research activities in the domain led to the creation of 10 spin-off companies. It is interesting to notice that this impact was mainly concentrated in the Applications for seamless networks and Network Integration sub-domains.
Most of these new entities were created from public centres to exploit research results commercially. Only 2 of them derived from companies (BT, S.A.T.E.).
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Exhibit 80 Projects/organisations having led to a spin off
Project Organisation
ATLAS FUB (Fundazione Ugo Bordoni) CADENUS Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II FAIN University of Pennsylvania GEOCAST Universita degli Studi da Roma "La Sapienza" GNIUS Universitaet Siegen M3I British Telecommunications plc MAGIC S.A.T.E. – Systems adn Advanced Technologies Engineering S.r.l. SCAMPI Masarykova Univerzita v Brne TOPRATE Universidad Politecnica de Valencia FORM Waterford Institute of Technology Source: WING Survey, Domain of Broadband, 2007
The creation of INVEA-TECH is particularly illustrative of this phenomenon The new entity could benefit from a 10-year experience in R&D in programmable hardware for high speed networking and in particular from outpouts of the SCAMPI project, already discussed in section 5.1.3. In only a few months, the company's activities have proved to be very attractive and successful.
INVEA-TECH is a university spin-off company devoted to the development of state-of-the-art solutions for high-speed network applications. The company was founded in 2007 in Brno, Czech Republic. The founders are private persons together with the UNIS technology partner (founded 1989), Masaryk University and Brno University of Technology. The founders are coming from R&D team with origins at Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology and CESNET association. CESNET is a R&D leader in usage of programmable hardware for high-speed networking (1-10 Gbps). The programmable hardware team (www.liberouter.org) has started the R&D activities in 1997 and leading researchers of this team are the founders of INVEA-TECH. Therefore, the INVEA-TECH team has more than 10 years experience in the area of VHDL programming of FPGA chips and many years experience from monitoring of high-speed international network backbones. The main focus of INVEA-TECH is to use programmable hardware (FPGA technology) in the area of security and monitoring of high-speed network applications. The target technologies are Gigabit and 10 gigabit Ethernet. The other focus of the company is to provide tools and devices for FPGA research and development. INVEA-TECH is very close in cooperation with CESNET, universities and other R&D partners.
Of interest is also the creation of spin offs, not as a result of research projects but as entities derived from industrial groups and dedicated to research in specific areas. We can mention here the French start up company 6WIND, created by Thomson CSF in September 2000 and dedicated to IPv6 (based on IP network development activities of the industrial group); 6WIND was involved in several FP5 projects in the broadband domain (see details below). Aevix Systems, a spin off of Alcaltel with expertise in high speed IC design, electronic and optical packaging, design and manufacturing and sub- sytems integration, was also involved in several R&D projects: not only through EC FP5 (TOPRATE) but also through national initiatives (e.g. French RNRT with participations in the FLORA, ERMIONE and HEMERODE projects).
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6WIND could participate in 5 RTD-projects in the broadband domain (6INIT, GCAP, ANDROID, 6POWER and Euro6IX) and was a member of the NGN-Initiative. The company could pursue research on IPv6 afterwards and participated in particular in a US Defence test project: "6WIND chalked up another milestone for its IPv6 defence-related expertise with the successful completion of the Next-Generation Internet testing project. Known as Moonv6, the project, which is backed by the U.S. Department of Defence and hosted at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), terminated its second phase on March 19, 2004." In 2005, 6WIND was named among the top 3 "leaders of innovation" in high tech in Europe.
5.3 Enabling Factors & European Added Value
Also in the case of the economic impacts, both at industry sector and participating organisations’ level, the respondents indicated the European Commission funding as a fundamental enabling factor for the achievement of the impacts (see Exhibit 81).
Exhibit 81 Probability of achieving same results in the economic sphere without EC funding
Probability of Achieving Same Results without EC Funding (Base: 89 respondents)
Impacts on your overall organisation 46% 20% 7%
Impacts on the broader environment 31% 11% 4%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) Low probability Moderate probability (Very) High probability
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Most importantly, Exhibit 82 shows that the overall majority of the respondents considered the collaboration at European level (as compared to undertaking the project alone or with partners from the same country) to be a critical factor for the achievement of the results.
Exhibit 82 Influence of International Collaboration on the Achievement of the Results in the Economic Sphere
Influence of International Collaboration on Achievement of Results (Base: 89 respondents)
Impacts on your overall organisation 54% 21%
Impacts on the broader environment 35% 11%
0% 50% 100%
(Very) Positive influence No or neutral influence (Very) Negative influence
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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5.4 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts
In this sub-section, conclusions are drawn on the impacts achieved in this impact category, deriving from the analysis reported in the preceding sub-sections. As was indicated in Section 1.2.4, the research activities funded in this domain were expected to create impacts on competitiveness of the European industry (new business models, new markets and new actors in the economic and technology areas), on exploitation and performance of companies (increase of turnover, organisations productivity, market shares), on economic growth and welfare. Impacts were to occur both at organisational and sector level.
5.4.1 Exploitation and performance impacts The FP5 research activities in this domain significantly impacted the participating organisations on their capability for innovation and reputation and image. To a lesser extent, participations in projects could also improve their competitive position and enhance their production and delivery capabilities. But tangible impacts seemed to be more long-term, due in particular to the investments needed for operators and service providers to upgrade their offers (see comments in the previous section).
By category (types of stakeholders and sub-domains), we could see the following
• Industry/business stakeholders drew benefit of the research activities mainly on reputation and image, more largely on their capabilities for innovation (enlargement of their products/services portfolio, enter new areas, access to new markets) and on competitive position; it needs to be pointed out, however, that 14% of these stakeholders indicated to have effectively gained access to new markets. • Research stakeholders could see impacts on innovation in their activities and improvement of their "competitive" position, at the European level but mostly at global level; • The Applications sub-domain appeared to be the most beneficiary area of economic impacts, in all items. This sub-domain also proved to be the one for which some projects could transform into practical and immediate results (launch of solutions, creation of companies). • Patents applications were numerous, particularly in the Optical Networks sub- domain, giving a competitive advantage to companies active in this field.
To summarize, the exploitation and performance impacts are presented in the following table.
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Exhibit 83 Exploitation and performance impacts in each sub-domain
Impacts mainly on commercial performance (reputation and image) and strategic issues (entry into new areas) Optical networks Industrial impacts in the medium long term in line with expectations IPR applications by 1 in 4 participants Mainly intangible assets in the short term Network integration Innovation in telcos and ISPOs infrastructure leading to improved services to end users and improved competitive positioning Evidence of concrete exploitation of research results Applications through Service support anywhere at anytime seamless networks High impact on market developments (1 in 3) Delivery of new products, processes or services Little significant direct economic impact Safety, security and Potential indirect impact through use of project outputs in other comfort of use products/solutions Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
5.4.2 Industrial and competitiveness impacts While impacts on market developments appeared to be significant for close to half of the survey respondents, they were more particularly significant in the Applications sub- domain. This is obviously in line with the nature of the results of projects in this area (see comment above).
Regarding technological/product areas, IP networks was considered by far by the 'most' impacted area, as development of infrastructures and applications over IP were clearly at the heart of the broadband domain projects. The relatively low impact perceived in other product areas may be due to time-to-market issues, as already discussed in the previous section.
Impacts on the industrial structure could finally appear through increased research- industry commercial cooperation and through the creation of new companies, mainly as spin offs.
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6 Policy and Regulation
The following section discusses the main findings regarding the level of achievement of the Planned Impacts in the policy sphere. It is basically divided into 2 sub-sections, the major one dedicated to standardisation and a second one dedicated to regulation.
6.1 Impacts on Standardisation
The standardisation process is the background of inter-working of telecom networks. CCITT, now ITU-T, was founded 140 years ago, just when first telephone networks were implemented and its contributions, in addition and in coordination today with that of geographical bodies (ETSI in Europe for instance) and specialised units (IETF for Internet standards, 3GPP for 3G and beyond cellular standards…), were essential for public transport and access networks and services not only to provide interoperability but also to deliver best efficiency.
As shown in Section 2, a lot of standards were defined in the optical transmission and network technologies in general, including extensions and improvements to former ones, in the past years. ITU-T, IETF, IEEE and OIF were the standardisation bodies most involved in it but it is worth mentioning also ETSI and 3GPP. Of course, IST policy objectives refer to standardisation ("Support to interoperability and standards") and the KA IV.2 (Essential Technologies and Infrastructures) states that: "The focus will be to provide anywhere, anytime communication supporting broadband and nomadic services. Open interfaces, common standards and codes of practice are to be developed."
The standardisation process is crucial for the efficient development of the industry and more specifically, European contributions are crucial for the competitiveness of the local industry. But to this end, it is also important to work on the basis on already existing standards. As noticed in a contribution from the NGN-Initiative: "Standards can be a strategic tool for bringing products first into the market (the main targets for NGN-I are: IETF, ETSI, ITU), and it is important to be aware of standards when developing products. NGN- I supports the harmonisation of standards contributions, in order to leverage a greater effect than if submitted independently.”
In the ATLAS project, the work package dedicated to the theoretical study of Tbps networks mentioned: "Therefore it will be important to follow the guidelines of standardisation bodies world-wide and also playing an active role in contributing and stimulating new standards, e.g. relative to the 40-80 Gbit/s and beyond WDM transmission…" Also in the DAVID project specifications: "A key starting point would be a common agreement on packet format, but also the administrative part needs to be planned well in advanced to ensure compatibility with the ongoing activities on GMPLS/ASON standards and realisation."
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6.1.1 Impacts at domain level From the survey data results that in this domain, the research activities performed groundbreaking work and achieved positive impacts on the development of new and/or existing standards.
In fact, as is illustrated in Exhibit 84, close to half of the respondents indicated impacts in the field of standardisation (considering impacts of both moderate and high significance); one in three also considered impacts on the development of policies.
Exhibit 84 Significance of Policy & Regulation impacts on the Broader Environment – RTD projects
Significance of Policy & Regulation Impacts on the Broader Environment (Base: 89 respondents)
On the development of new and existing standards 16 % 33% 22%
On the development of new and existing policies 10 % 20% 31%
0% 50% 100% (Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
An indication on the high importance of these impacts in the broadband domain is provided (also) from a comparison of these impact levels with those achieved in the other IST domains under FP5 – see Exhibit 85.
Exhibit 85 Impacts on the development of new and existing standards – 11 Domains RTD projects
Overall impacts on Impacts of the development of Impacts of (Very) Moderate new and existing High significance significance standards Broadband base: 81 45,60% 16,00% 29,60% EGovernment - base: 68 26,40% 8,80% 17,60% Einclusion - base: 77 32,50% 19,50% 13,00% Environment - base: 98 26,60% 8,20% 18,40% FET - base: 163 17,80% 4,90% 12,90% Intelligent Manufacturing Systems - base: 47 23,40% 4,30% 19,10% Knowledge & Content Technologies - base: 89 30,30% 11,20% 19,10% Networked Audiovisual Systems - base: 141 31,20% 13,50% 17,70% Software Technologies - base: 100 37,00% 18,00% 19,00% Technologies for Education & Training - base: 115 34,80% 13,90% 20,90% Trust & Security - base: 52 40,40% 13,50% 26,90% Total Aggregated 11 Domains - base: 1031 30,50% 11,80% 18,70% Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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Not surprisingly, close to 30% of the respondents indicated to have set up during their project an intense collaboration with standardisation bodies, including especially IETF, ETSI, ITU-T, and RIPE. A respondent involved in the SIRLAN project (Security, Safety and Comfort of use sub-domain) indicated also collaboration with Konnex, EHSA, IEC and ISO.
Collaboration with standardisation bodies is a critical issue in the broadband domain as a lot of protocols still had to be standardized at the time of the FP5 programme and after (see section 2) and European contribution was essential not to be only dependent on US or Japanese initiatives. For instance, in PON access technology, Japan and the USA began to adopt BPON before Europe could push GPON.
6.1.2 Impacts at sub-domain level When considering these responses at sub-domain level, one notices that impacts on the development of standards were achieved especially by projects in the Network Integration, Applications for seamless networks and Optical networks sub-domains – see Exhibit 86. This is quite normal considering that projects in these categories aimed at developing basic technologies for public networks (in the transmission segment in particular) or technical interfaces to make public network elements interoperable. Projects in the fourth sub-domain were mainly dedicated to developments for closed user groups.
Exhibit 86 Impacts on standardisation – key projects
Sub-domain Project Research topic ATLAS WDW fibre links up to 1 terabit/s DAVID Packet-over-WDM network solutions FASHION OTDM at 160 Gigabit/s and over HARMONICS Flexible wavelength routing (dynamically reconfigurable fibre infrastructure) Optical networks LION Optical transport network METEOR Terabit optical MAN (40 channels up to 40 Gigabit/s) STOLAS Packet-switched IP-over-WDM networks TOPRATE Transmission of several terabit/s capacity over one optical fibre 6POWER IPv6 over PLC networks BASS Broadband Information Highway bridging legacy and next generation networks
Network Integration BRAHMS Universal access interface for broadband satellite multimedia services Euro6IX First Pan European non commercial IPv6 Internet Exchange Network Open, flexible and Integrated Management solution offering Configuration, Fault WINMAN and Performance management for IP over hybrid transport networks Integrated solution for the creation, configuration and provisioning of end-user CADENUS services with QoS guarantees in Premium IP networks IASON Evaluation procedures of heterogeneous networks, services and applications Applications Next generation systems to enable Internet resource management through market M3I sources Scalable, incremental solutions that enable flexible deployment and delivery of MESCAL inter-domain QoS across the Internet Open adaptable framework to support the management of trusted Co-operative FORM Inter-Enterprise Environments encompassing telecommunication facilities and business automation systems Safety etc Tool Kit Platform for the installation of applications for home and building SIRLAN equipment, which would communicate within or outside of the building through any type of communication network Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
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Depending on the sub-domains, projects also addressed different standardisation bodies:
Optical networks: involvement in standardisation was mainly oriented to involve ITU- T and standardisation bodies typical for transport networks, while IETF and other packet-layer standard bodies were not addressed. Only three projects (HARMONICS, METEOR and STOLAS) included contributing to standardisation as an explicit project activity, while for some other projects (e.g. LION) interaction with standardisation clearly appeared from the project activities, but was not announced as a specific project task. This limited interaction of FP5 optical network projects with standardisation bodies is probably also due to the fact, mentioned in the previous sections, that at the beginning of FP5 standardisation on optical networks was just at an early stage. Network integration: significant involvement in standardisation covered a reduced set of Bodies (more often IETF), mainly due to the limited effort put on standardisation on the one hand, and the difficulty to enter international organizations and fora (especially to standardize architectural solutions), on the other hand. Applications through seamless networks: significant involvement in standardisation covered only a reduced set of Bodies (more often IETF). Safety, Comfort ans Security: on the whole, standardisation impacts were relevant mainly for embedded systems research activities.
More specifically, we could find evidence of contributions to standardisation in several projects of the broadband domain: • Some standards from ITU-T and Optical Network Forum regarding the evolution of transport networks are based on the results of the LION project; • The improvements promoted by the CADENUS project were submitted to IETF and part of the outputs can be found in the prevailing standards; • The partners of the Euro6IX project have quite heavily contributed to ETSI and IETF works on interoperability and conformance IPv6 tests; • WINMAN could be a precursor for standards developed by ITU in the broadband domain. Results of the project were presented and discussed in ITU-T fora as well as at the tele-management forum.
However, it looks like contributions to standardisation bodies were less direct than initially planned in the projects objectives. For instance in the ATLAS Technological Implementation Plan, we could read: "Pirelli aims to obtaining the standardisation of the transmission/networking technologies proposed and exploited in the frame of the ATLAS project to gain a prominent position in the next stage of development of very high capacity links." In the presentation of the DAVID project: "The project clearly saw a need to start making standards in the field of optical packet switching in order to ensure compatibility in future systems".
In fact, often contributions to standards were not direct outputs of the projects themselves but resulted from follow on research or from initiatives of individual project participants: • The ATLAS documentation could contribute to standards further developed in ITU-T, in particular for the 40 Gbps technology (even if current standards do not come directly from final project outputs); • Some future standards may take into consideration the results of the DAVID project as the demand for open and optical networks is now growing and inter- working and/or interconnection issues need to be clarified; • BT, through its involvement in those projects, could contribute to IETF standards.
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In this context, participants in the projects pointed out that, as documentation regarding the final outputs as well as the different working steps were made available to the public, the whole scientific community, including the standardisation bodies, could appropriate the conclusions.
6.2 Impacts on Policy Development
As could be expected, the level of the research activities’ impacts on the development of new or existing policies was highly differentiated among the various sub-domains: impacts in this field occurred especially in the Network Integration and Applications through seamless networks sub-domains (see Exhibit 87, below).
Exhibit 87 Impacts on Policy Development per sub-domain
Overall impact on policy Impacts of (Very) High Impacts of Moderate
development significance significance
Optical Networks (base: 24 resp.) 21% 8% 13%
Network Integration (base: 35 resp.) 38% 9% 29%
Applications through seamless networks (base: 40% 13% 27% 15 resp.) Safety, Security & Comfort of use (base: 15 20% 13% 7% resp.) Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Even though 13% of the respondents involved in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use sub-domain indicated impacts of high significance, overall the impacts reached in this sub-domain are to be considered below expectations. In fact, in this context it is useful to remember that respondents involved in this sub-domain attributed high importance to the policy-oriented goals of their research (see the analysis of the Research Characteristics in Section 1.4.3).
A confirmation to this result of the analysis is to be found in the responses of one in five participants in this sub-domain who indicated to have reached impacts on the broader environment below expectations (see Section 4.1. on the Effectiveness of the Research).
Very few interviewees mentioned regulation issues as being directly linked to projects in the broadband domain. This has certainly to do with the fact that those projects were dedicated to innovative networks and services and that a "regulatory holiday" was supposed to be applied to them, or more simply to the fact that those solutions could not be effectively implemented. However, as for technical implementation, it can be matter of delay and issues regarding the possible unbundling of PON access networks are now discussed. More globally, such programmes have to be seen as a whole and not only for European development. The ITU for instance, working in close relation with the EC, is strongly negotiating in order to complete harmonization of regulations between African countries as the European Union could play an important role in defining efficient coherent rules.
Another form of indirect contribution to regulation occurred through the participation of national regulators in transversal initiatives. The NGN-Initiative involved NRAs in
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their workshops in developing the roadmap, and hence influenced the policy matters from the European perspective.
6.3 Matching Actual to Planned Impacts
In this sub-section, conclusions are drawn on the impacts achieved in this impact category, deriving from the analysis reported in the preceding sub-sections. Impacts were to occur mainly in standards and regulatory issues.
Standardisation Impacts on standards appeared to be high in the broadband domain, in particular in comparison with responses for other domains. An intense activity towards, or in cooperation with the standardisation bodies, could be set up in all the sub-domains, except Safety, security and comfort of use. However, it looks like contributions of projects to standards were less direct than initially planned, resulting from follow on research or from initiatives of individual project participants.
Regulation Projects in the broadband domain had finally limited impacts on regulatory issues. The main effects could be seen through the participation of national regulators in transversal projects, such as the NGN-Initiative.
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7 Social Impacts
A first view on the impacts in the social sphere, achieved by the research activities in the broadband domain, derives from the survey data.
As is illustrated in Exhibit 88, the major impacts occurred in the field of knowledge and skills enhancement in the society at large, i.e. on education and educational developments as well as improved access to information and knowledge (indicated by approximately 40% of the respondents). At a second level, indicated by close to one in five respondents, are the impacts on the broad quality of life issues, including working conditions. According to the respondents, the research had highly limited impacts on employment levels.
Exhibit 88 Significance of Impacts in the Social Sphere – RTD projects
Significance of Social Impacts on the Broader Environment (Base: 89 respondents)
On education and educational developments 17 % 22% 27%
On improved access to information and knowledge in 16 % 24% 25% the community at large
On the general quality of life 4% 17 % 31%
On working conditions in the community at large 3% 18 % 36%
On employment levels in the economy at large 3% 12 % 39%
0% 50% 100% (Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
As could be expected, the impact indications are quite divergent among the different sub-domains, in line with the specific research characteristics (see Exhibit 89, below).
The results could also be differently appreciated from a project to another. An interviewee from the METEOR project (optical networks sub-domain) indicated that, through the acquired technical knowledge, students participating in the project could not only get more easily their PhD degree but some could also find a job within companies which partnered to the project. The same was said for students participating in the ATLAS project, as it could facilitate their placement in companies, which were partners of the project or not. 2 students from IMEC, involved in the OPTIMIST project, could also find a job in direct relation with their participation in the project.
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Exhibit 89 Significance of Social Impacts on the Broader Environment by sub-domain - % responses impacts of moderate and (very) high significance
Optical Network Applications through Safety, Security & Networks Integration seamless networks (base: Comfort of use (base: (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) 15 resp.) 15 resp.)
On education and educational 50% 37% 46% 20% developments On improved access to information and 34% 43% 47% 33% knowledge in the community at large On the general quality of life 25% 20% 7% 33% On working conditions in the community at 21% 29% 20% 7% large On employment levels in the economy at 8% 17% 20% 20% large Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Impacts on knowledge and skills in the society at large Half of the respondents in the Optical Networks and Applications through seamless networks sub-domains considered that the research activities and results had an impact in the sphere of education and educational developments. As developments in those technological areas are supposed to offer larger information exchange capacities, these can be used to support more and more advanced educational applications, in particular with improved interactivity (see also the impact analysis of research in the e-learning domain).
Close to half of the respondents in the Network Integration and Applications through seamless networks indicated impacts on the access to information and knowledge. These impact indications may be attributed to the key role of these segments for the creation of efficient information exchange platforms, at the infrastructure and service levels. The same could certainly appear in the Optical networks but it is for the time being considered as less significant due to difficulties in implementing practically end-to-end optical solutions.
Impacts on the quality of life As expected, impacts on the living conditions of the European citizen occurred especially in the Safety, Security & Comfort of use sub-domain (33% of respondents). This seems quite natural as issues dealt with in this sub-domain are dedicated to ensuring a secure environment for the use of advanced applications and services, as well as an enhanced availability of applications such as vehicle-based emergency call systems (the project E-MERGE) or platforms for the networked home, enabling independent living of the elderly and the sick.
Impacts for the improvement of working conditions, instead, were mainly related to the Network Integration sub-domain (29% of respondents). This shows that interoperability of network elements is key within companies as it can help employees to exchange information and access to different information platforms from a single point and using similar interfaces. The relatively low level of significance declared for this issue in the Safety, Security and Comfort of Use sub-domain is more surprising.
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An overall reflection in this context is that the advancement of broadband technologies, leading to convergence of networks and faster as well as lower-cost broadband access, can be expected to bear longer-term indirect effects in the field of quality of life. A typical example from this perspective are the optical access networks (including PON) that are expected to reduce access cost and increase triple-play access penetration among residential users.
Impacts on employment levels Interestingly, one in five respondents in the Applications through seamless networks and Safety, Security and Comfort of use sub-domains indicated impacts on employment. In contrast with the very low level of significance for the network-related sub-domains (especially Optical networks), this leads to the conclusion that technological developments in networks constitute an essential background for the information society but economic benefits will come mainly from usage of advanced applications and services. However, we can see some direct effects with job creations in the course of the projects to carry them out and students/researchers from public organizations who could be hired by companies as they proved to have an advanced knowledge in key technological domains.
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8 Impacts on Environment
In the broadband domain, impacts on environment did not constitute a direct goal for the research activities. In fact, as is indicated in Exhibit 9 in Section 1.4.3 on the Research Characteristics, only respondents in the Network Integration sub-domain (and only 3% of these) attributed importance to goals in this sphere for their research.
Not surprisingly, as is illustrated in Exhibit 90, overall, respondents indicated highly limited impacts in this field.
Exhibit 90 Significance of Environmental Impacts
Significance of Environmental Impacts on the Broader Environment (Base: 89 respondents)
Impacts on the environment 3% 9% 45%
0% 50% 100% (Very) High significance Moderate significance Low significance / Insignificant
Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
This view on impacts on environment, however, needs to be balanced with a consideration of the “indirect” effects of the research results on environmental issues. Especially respondents in the Network Integration and Safety, Security and Comfort of use sub-domains (14%) seemed to have taken these effects into account: respectively 20% and 14% of the participants in these sub-domains indicated impact achievement on the environment.
Exhibit 91 Impacts on Environment per sub-domain - % responses impacts of moderate to (very) high significance
Applications through Safety, Security & Optical Networks Network Integration seamless networks (base: Comfort of use (base: 15 (base: 24 resp.) (base: 35 resp.) 15 resp.) resp.)
Impacts on the 4% 20% 7% 14% environment Source: WING Impact Analysis, Domain of Broadband, 2007
Regarding Network integration, the reason why projects in this sub-domain seem to have relatively higher impacts on environment, may come from the consideration of reusing already existing parts of networks, which should avoid some recycling problems arising when you just replace a complete system by another one, and the need of new outdoor devices, especially for wireless networks, such as antennas, base stations, repeaters, …. As an example, we can look at the 6POWER project, dedicated to IPv6 over PLC networks. As was mentioned in the assessment form, "the utilization of power lines for carrying out voice, video and data [which] somehow provides a cost reduction and also environmentally supporting as it saves the need for installing new cabling, and consequently avoids the impact of manufacturing and installing". As for Safety, Security and Comfort of use, one of the objectives of the projects was specifically to promote a safer environment for the proper use of new networks, applications and services.
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Also in this case, however, longer-term indirect impacts can be expected. Especially the convergence of fixed/mobile networks will constitute a precious tool for an improved management of environmental hazards and emergencies, while an increased penetration of broadband access at high speed has already now proven its value for an improvement of environmental monitoring (see the WING Environment domain report).
Finally, it needs to be mentioned that advances in the Passive Optical Networks (PON) technology can prove of high value for an improved management of natural resources. In fact, in contrast to the other NGN technology VDSL, the PON (FTTH) technology (see HARMONICS project) does not require powered street cabinets, has potentially no impact on urban environment, and has low energy impact.
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9 Conclusions
There are three parts to this final concluding overview of the impact analysis of FP5 broadband projects. First, a review is presented on the context of the research in the broadband domain in Europe. Second, a concluding review of the impacts achieved is provided, assessing to what extent the research activities contributed to the attainment of the Domain Specific Objectives or Long-Term Impacts. Third, a final section draws together and summarises the main conclusions arising out of the analysis presented in this report.
9.1 The Broadband Domain
In the late 1990s, the advancement of the broadband technologies was considered one of the cornerstones for the realisation of the strategic objective to build the European Information Society.
In its report “Broadband Driving Growth: Policy responses”13, the OECD worded it as follows: “Broadband networks are an important platform for the development of knowledge- based global, national, regional, and local economies. For the private sector, broadband is an enabler of e-business and new market opportunities, allowing firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to realise growth through productivity increases stemming from improved information exchange, value chain transformation, and process efficiency. Broadband can improve the efficiency, availability and reach of public sector services in areas of high government interest, such as health, education and government services, and have important demonstration effects in other economic sectors. For consumers, broadband can enhance the quality of life through economic, social and cultural, development. For small, rural and remote communities it can be an enabler for economic and social inclusion; especially, it can facilitate access to new and advanced goods and services, as well as opportunities to participate in the digital economy and information society."
The broadband networks were therefore expected to constitute a critical push element for the development of new content, applications and services. The broadband domain is thus characterised by new business models, new actors in the economic and technology arenas, new markets and new technologies. Generally speaking the area addresses what occurs when network evolution is driven by the emergence of a new technology, which finds cost-effective applicability usually in one specific part of the network. The technology that spreads through the different parts of the network is heterogeneous as a single solution will never be the most efficient for all circumstances, but each breakthrough in technology opens opportunities for related developments in other parts of the network. Some common global driving forces can be recognised: • The need for delivering increasingly larger capacities to end users (both fixed and mobile) for marginal increases in cost; • The need for supporting seamless services; • The need to consolidate network protocols; • The need to support Quality of Service (QoS) for real-time services.
13 "Broadband Driving Growth: Policy Responses", Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Committee for Information, Computer & Communications Policy, OECD, 2003
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In fact, broadband in FP5 was characterised by optical technology-based solutions and projects dealt with technological issues related to optical networks, their inter-working with existing infrastructures and their effects on applications and services. In particular, the most important Key Action covering broadband projects (K.A. IV.2: "Technologies for and the management of information processing, communications and networks, including broadband, together with their implementation, interoperability and application") was broken down into the following action lines: • "All optical and terabit networks" focused on optical signal processing, dense wavelength multiplexing; switching and routing, operation and management which support terabit capacity and beyond in the core network; • "Network integration, interoperability and inter-working" to enable integration at the transport level of heterogeneous networks, and component and system interoperability; • "Technologies for network management and service-level inter-working" to develop new open network management and service architectures, providing a framework for the convergence of network and broadcast services and technologies in multi-domain environments; • "Concurrent systems" to develop and assess models for the seamless and ubiquitous sharing and interactive use of applications and resources in geographically dispersed locations, in the context of heterogeneous hardware, software and communication architectures and systems.
Broadly speaking, design and development of network solutions, systems and platforms, for new value added applications, available anywhere and at any time by users. Under FP5, the European Commission DG Information Society funded 55 projects in the broadband domain. The project portfolio included 51 RTD projects and 4 non-RTD projects. The total EC funding amounted at 152.6 M Euro, i.e. 148 M Euro taken up by the RTD projects and 4.6 M Euro by the non-RTD ones. 7 out of 10 RTD projects of the domain were part of Key Action IV.2.
For the purposes of this study, the projects within this Domain were grouped in four sub-domains: • Optical Networks (10 RTD projects): the projects within this category designed next generation network technologies, with the associated protocols and signalling mechanisms, to allow end-to-end optical transmission across core and access networks; • Network Integration (22 RTD projects): research in this category aimed at developing solutions for ensuring interoperability between existing and NGN technologies, backbone and access, fixed and mobile…; • Applications through seamless networks (12 RTD projects): the projects within this category had as core objective to provide technical solutions capable of supporting value added services for network operators and users, anywhere at anytime; • Safety, security and comfort of use (7 RTD projects): considering the user's point of view and the risks associated with the implementation of new technologies, the projects in this category aimed at securing applications and services in order to guarantee consumer's confidence.
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9.2 Summary of Impacts Achieved
9.2.1 At domain level Scientific & Technological Impacts Significant scientific and technological breakthroughs could occur with the support of FP5 projects. Developments regarding 40 Gbps links and IPv6 technologies could clearly benefit from results derived from several projects, particularly in the optical networks and network integration sub-domains. But breakthroughs could also be achieved in support technologies, such as languages (projects in the safety, security and comfort of use sub-domain). We could see, from survey results and interviews but also from our own analysis of research project results, that developments initiated through FP5 in the broadband area could contribute to maintain or reposition European technological community (industry as well as public research) at a high level on the world scene. In optical technologies notably, this was very important at a time when both Japan and the USA seemed to have gained some advance over Europe. Alcatel success in this domain (see sections 3.5 and 4.3.4) is particularly illustrative of this phenomenon; the equipment manufacturer could refer to "pre competitive" research as an incentive, even if most part of complementary research and all effective developments were produced internally. Issues addressed in most of the projects were perfectly in line with the technological roadmap for next generation networks. We could find evidence of the effectiveness of research for European organizations and for research community as a whole: cooperation between industrial players and public research organizations, improvements in research competitiveness and research capacity, acquisition of knowledge and skills critical for the industry, follow on projects. But it was also and foremost demonstrated that research within FP5 projects led to technological breakthroughs in very sensitive areas. In particular, core technology projects (i.e. in the Optical networks and Network integration sub-domains) were very beneficial for industry and market. Many of them carried out complete testbeds and trials which are a good indicator of a project success, meaning that they could support concrete applications. Furthermore, those developments did not constitute the ultimate goal of the projects but were components of a general network-architecture context and were driven by system requirements. QoS issues were particulilarly addressed, either from the supplier perspective (manageability, flexibility, etc.) and from the end user perspective (SLA, security, etc.). Research projects in the broadband domain could serve as a basis for follow-on research, through manufacturers' further internal projects, as just explained for Alcatel, but also through continued cooperative work. Several research projects in FP6, Networks of Excellence and national initiatives could directly appear as a continuation of work initiated in the surveyed projects. To be balanced, it is worth mentioning that effective technological deployments based on FP5/broadband project outputs have been hampered by the telecom market crisis following the internet bubble burst. But in the meantime, the Lisbon objective gave a high priority to broadband technical issues.
Economic Impacts Beyond the last general comment above about adverse market trends, several projects could lead to effective and marketed solutions. These could be seen notably in the applications through seamless networks sub-domain (see below) where outputs could lead
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to industrial solutions. It could also serve solution developments in the other sub- domains, including optical networks and network integration but with effects on parts or components rather than on complete solutions and more time-to-market. Very positive contributions were also produced in reference to quality of service issues, which were a great deal for a safe internet. IPR is a major concern in the optical technologies domain, as it is more generally in new advanced technologies. Cooperative groupings are not considered as the adequate structure for direct deposit of patents but project outputs could be used for further developments in each participating industrial group (at least in most of them) which in their turn could lead to IPR applications: one respondent out of 3 in the survey declared that IPR applications presented by their organisations were derived from the FP5 research activities, especially in the Optical Networks sub-domain. Impacts in terms of industry structure and performance could be measured with regards to significant market inroads of European players in various segments, from transport and access technologies (e.g. PON) to applications and services (e.g. IPTV). Furthermore, several spin offs were created in the course of projects or just after projects completion to exploit results commercially.
Impacts on Policy & Regulation Two major areas were originally of concern here; standardisation and regulation. As for standardisation, it appeared to be a great deal in the project planned impacts and 30% of the respondents in the survey indicated to have set up during their project an intense collaboration with standardisation bodies. We could find evidence of contributions to standards by some large projects (LION, CADENUS, Euro6IX, WINMAN…) but we could also understand from interviews that, generally speaking, contributions to standardisation bodies were finally less direct (and maybe less extensive) than expected. Contributions were to a large extent in the form of documented technical papers and participations in fora. Regulation appeared not to be such a big deal, with national regulators only little interested in those projects and in the role of observers (for longer term issues) in the few inititiatives they were participating in.
Social impacts As projects in the broadband domain were dedicated to supporting new technologies and services to improve both the quantity and the quality of exchanges of information, they could have positive effects on knowledge in the society at large: these could be especially measured in the sphere of education and educational developments. They could also contribute to some extent to quality of life improvements through outputs serving more secure and easy-to-use applications. As for employment, the main direct impacts could be found in the hiring, by participating organisations, of students who had acquired a high level technical knowledge thanks to their involvement in research projects. In this context however, it needs to be taken into account that the technological advances in the field of broadband can be expected to have longer-term indirect impacts on the social environment. Improved broadband connections, at higher speed and lower cost as well as enabling integration and convergence with other networks and technologies, in fact, form the backbone for an augmented availability of e-services, an improved sharing of knowledge and information, an enhanced safety, and ultimately, a reduction of the social and regional digital divides.
Impacts on environment
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Finally, impacts on environment could be measured through some "indirect" effects of the research results, in particular on recycling issues and on the importance of high- speed broadband access for the improvement of environmental monitoring in Europe. Most importantly, however, high benefits for an improved management of environmental hazards and emergencies can be expected from the advances in broadband technologies and network convergence. In the context of a more sustainable management of natural resources, it is worth considering that the PON (FTTH) technology shows considerable advantages from this perspective compared to the other NGN technology VDSL; several projects in the broadband successfully contributed to the advancement of the PON technology.
9.2.2 At sub-domain level Optical networks Research projects in the Optical networks sub-domain could lead to significant impacts for both scientific and technological issues and economic issues: • Scientific and technological issues: - significant ouputs, especially in terms of concrete support for new technical solutions or research platforms ("prototypes, demonstrators and pilots", "new research tools and techniques"), e.g. LION (feasibility of interworking between the optical and IP layers), - both mid-term exploitation and follow on research, e.g. DAVID (solutions for mid term implementation of Packet-over-WDM transmission), - exploratory research/intensive know-how transfer to the S&T community, notably through a large number of publications during the projects; • Economic issues: - impacts mainly on commercial performance (reputation and image) and strategy (entry into new areas), - industrial impacts in the medium long term in line with expectations - IPR applications by 1 out of 4 participants.
Network integration Research projects in the Network integration sub-domain could also lead to significant impacts through different levels of contribution: • Scientific and technological issues: - close-to-market outputs, especially Quality of Service, voice-data integration, packet and circuit-switching integration (gateways), integration of wired and wireless technologies at IP level, IPv6, new technologies to bridge the “digital divide” (PLC, Wireless, etc.), e.g. WINMAN (effective and viable solution to introduce IP over WDM), - often dedicated to internal use to improve productivity and/or to provide improved services, e.g. Euro6IX (development of a GIX based on IPv6 to interconnect IP networks of participating operators and experiment new services); • Economic issues: - mainly intangible impacts in the short term, - innovation in telcos and ISPs infrastructure leading to improved services to end users and improved competitive positioning.
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Applications through seamless networks Main impacts in the Applications through seamless networks sub-domain were: • Scientific and technological issues: - significant development of “new research tools and techniques”, e.g. MESCAL which contributed to a lot of publications and concrete solutions to support further developments (inter-domain QoS across the Internet), - specifications as a basis for state of the art (“IETF”), e.g. CADENUS, - results in end-to-end QoS issues, SLA support, mobility management, horizontal/vertical handover, traffic engineering to be implemented afterwards in proprietary solutions, e.g. ProxiTV providing an ad hoc solution used by Telekom Austria for its IPTV service; • Economic issues: - evidence of concrete exploitation of research results, - service support anywhere at anytime; - high impact on market developments (1 in 3 respondents); - delivery of new products, processes or services, e.g. ProxiTV used in particular by Telekom Austria when launching IPTV services or SCAMPI, the Internet traffic monitoring and measurement solution, now operated commercially.
Safety, security and comfort of use Main impacts in the Safety, security and comfort of use sub-domain were: • Scientific and technological issues: - closer-to-market outputs with significant outputs in terms of innovative or new "operational systems" (products or services), - improvements of support technologies or software, e.g. DRIVE (dynamic radio for IP services in vehicular environment) or INTERVAL (timed extension to specifications and description language - SDL); • Economic issues: - little significant direct economic impact, - potential indirect impact through use of project outputs in other products/solutions.
9.3 Conclusions
Contributing to European excellence in research in broadband technologies The research activities in this domain strongly promoted Scientific and Technological excellence in broadband technologies:
• The overall majority of the projects successfully completed their work programme and reached expected results, especially in terms of effects on R&D capabilities: - through the creation and consolidation of cooperative networks in Europe and beyond (extensions to to the US and Japanese communities), - through complementary national initiatives and follow on in-house R&D programmes;
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• The IST research activities in the broadband domain substantially contributed to the enhancement of skills and competencies in the scientific and technological community at large;
• Cooperation and public dissemination of information could help participants to identify promising topics and potential partners: - for research companies to get contracts with the industry, - for large companies to leverage their research internal efforts, - for SMEs to focus on innovative processes.
Creating critical value for Europe to maintain technological competitiveness IST funded research in the broadband domain acted as a driver for an enhanced competitiveness of the European industry in broadband technologies:
• Industry/business stakeholders of the projects could draw benefit of the research activities mainly on reputation and image, more largely on commercial issues (enlargement of their products/services portfolio, enter new areas, access to new markets) and therefore on competitive position;
• During the period from end of FP5 up to now, they could capitalise on first research results and go beyond through in-house continued projects or through joint follow on research or contracts with universities or public centres: - industry leaders could gain strong expertise in optical technologies which is now very valuable (e.g. Alcatel in PON technology), - spin offs could emerge to exploit innovative products or processes (e.g. INVEA-TECH in the Czech Republic).
Bridging the digital divide and improving quality of life By achieving significant technological advances in the broadband domain, leading to broadband access at lower costs, integrated technologies and ever-more converged networks, the IST-funded research indirectly contributed to the enhancement of the quality of life for European citizen and the reduction of social and regional barriers to information and knowledge exchange.
9.4 Overall conclusions
The research projects in the broadband domain, funded under FP5, contributed effectively both to the (re)positioning of the European research community at international level in this area and to an enhanced competitiveness of the European industry. In fact, the timescale and focus of the FP5 projects were in line with the international research activities. They addressed most topics of the technological roadmap, ranging from very high speed transmission/switching in the transport network to the (IP) interconnection of various access technologies. At industrial level, the EC-funded research activities represented a unique opportunity for vendors to successfully develop and experiment new technologies for next generation networks. Furthermore, they facilitated a crucial innovation of the
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product/service offer by the major European operators and service providers thanks to the implementation of solutions or parts of the solutions that were developed in these projects in the organisations’ own networks and offers. In this context it needs to be taken into account that the "internet bubble burst" occurred just in the middle of the FP5 4-year plan, leading to financial restrictions among the players, especially regarding investments. Finally, the high value of the research results is evident also from its level of transience: most of the research outputs are still valid today or were pursued through follow on research and a more large-scale implementation can be expected in the first coming years (e.g. 40 Gbps links, IPv6, …).
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10 Annexes
10.1 References
Articles • ”Broadband wireless access : potential for mobile WiMAx and alternative BWA Technologies”, in Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Montpellier, 12/2006 • Shim S., Oh J., ”Service bundling and the role of access charge in the broadband internet service market”, in Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Montpellier, 09/2006 • Crampes C., Hollander A., ”Triple play time”, in Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Montpellier, 09/2006 • Pernet S., ”Bundles and range strategies”, in Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Montpellier, 09/2006 • Bajon J., ”IPTV markets: new broadband service promising to upset the balance of the TV market ”, in Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Montpellier, 06/2006 • Gilett S.E., Lehr W.H., Osorio C.A., ”Municipal electric utilities' role in telecommunications services”, in Telecommunications Policy, 09/2006 • Cava-Ferreruela I., Alabau-Munoz A., ”Broadband policy assessment: a cross- national empirical analysis”, in Telecommunications Policy, 09/2006 • Fijnvandraat M., Bouwman H., ”Flexibility and broadband evolution”, in Telecommunications Policy, 09/2006 • Tanguturi V.P., Harmantzis F.C., ”Migration to 3G wireless broadband internet and real options: The case of an operator in India”, in Telecommunications Policy, 08/2006 • Le Floch L., "The world broadband access market", in Communications & Strategies, 03/2006 • Van Gorp A., Maitland C.F., Hanekop H., ”The broadband internet access market: the changing role of ISPs”. in Telecommunications Policy, 03/2006 • Papacharissi Z., Zaks A., ”Is broadband the future ? An analysis of broadband technology potential and diffusion”, in Telecommunications Policy, 02/2006 • Gassot Y., ”Japan: from high speed to very high speed access”, in Communications et Strategies, 12/2005 • ROGY M., ”Broadband technologies and services in Sub Saharan Africa”. in Communications & Strategies, 11/2005 • Savage S.J., Waldman D., ”Broadband internet access, awareness and use: analysis of United States household data”, in Telecommunications Policy, 09/2005 • Frieden R., ”Lessons from broadband development in Canada, Japan, Korea and The United States”, in Telecommunications Policy, 09/2005 • Puissochet A., ”Is FTTx taking off?”, in Communications & Strategies, 06/2005 • Bauer J.M., ”Unbundling policy in the United States: players, outcomes and effects”, in Communications & Strategies, 04/2005 • Garcia-Murillo M.A., ”International broadband deployment: the impact of unbundling", in Communications & Strategies, 04/2005 • ”Télévision: ADSL et mobiles en première ligne (dossier)”, in Nouveaux dossiers de l'audiovisuel, INA, Paris, 04/2005
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• Firth L., Mellor D., ”Broadband: benefits and problems”. in Telecommunications Policy, 03/2005 • Lee C., Chan-Olmsted S., ”Competitive advantage of broadband internet: a comparative study between South Korea and the United States”, in Telecommunications Policy, 10/2004 • Tongia R., ”Can broadband over powerline carrier (PLC) compete? A techno- economic analysis”, in Telecommunications Policy, 08/2004 • Gillett S.E., Lehr W.H., Osorio C., ”Local government broadband initiatives”, in Telecommunications Policy, 08/2004 • Montagne R., ”Broadband markets: Europe, North America and Asia”, in Communications & Strategies, 03/2004 • Fuke H., ”The spectacular growth of DSL in Japan and its implications”, in Communications & Strategies, 12/2003 • Martinez J.P., Saiz H.P., Saiz S.P., ”The regulation of incumbent operators and its impact on competition in broadband networks and services”, in Communications & Strategies, 06/2003 • Howell B., ”Infrastructure regulation and the demand for broadband services: evidence from OECD countries”, in Communications & Strategies, 09/2002 • Baranes E., Gassot Y., ”Will broadband lead to a more competitive access market?”, in Communications & Strategies, 04/2002 • ”Very high speed digital subscriber line”, in IEEE Communications Magazine, 05/2000 • Rood H., ”Indicators for bandwidth demand”, in Telecommunications Policy, 04/2000 • ”The promise of broadband”, in Intermedia, Broadcasting. International Institute of Communications, London, 02/2000 • ”Topics in broadband access”, in IEEE Communications Magazine, 11/1999
Reports • Alcatel Lucent, ”Broadband for development in the ESCWA region : Enhancing Access to ICT Services in a Global Knowledge Society”, 03/2007 • Analysys, ”Sophisticated broadband services”, Final Report for the Department of Trade and Industry, 05/2006 • OECD, ”Multiple play: pricing and policy trends”, Party on Telecommunication and Information Services Policies, 04/2006 • OECD, ”VoIP: Developments in the Markets”, Working Party on Telecommunication and Information Services Policies, 01/2006 • Palmer S., ” Television disrupted : the transition from network to networked TV”, Focal Press, Burlington (USA), 2006 • Montagne R., Le Floch L., ”Ubiquitous Broadband Access”, Telenor, Norway, 2006 • ITU, ”Trends in telecommunication reform 2006: regulating in the broadband world”, ITU Geneva, 2006 • ITU, ”The internet of things”, ITU Geneva, 11/2006 • PriceWaterHouseCoopers, ”Technical assistance in bridging the "digital divide": a cost benefit analysis for broadband connectivity in Europe". European Space Agency, Paris, 10/2004 • ITU, ”Birth of broadband”, ITU Geneva, 09/2003 • WIK Consult, ”The economics of IP networks: market, technical and public policy issues relating to internet traffic exchange”, 05/2002
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• Haring J., Rohlfs J.H., Shooshan H.M., ”Propelling the broadband bandwagon”, Strategic Policy Research, 09/2002 • Ovum, ”DSL: strategies for next-generation services”, London, 2002 • OECD, ”The development of broadband access in OECD countries”, Paris, 10/2001 • BDRC, ”The development of broadband access platforms in Europe: technologies, services, markets”, BDRCCCE, London, 08/2001 • Tvede L., Pircher P., Bodenkamp J., ”Data broadcasting: the technology and the business”, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (UK), 1999 • FTTH Deployment: When and why?. IDATE, 2006 • IPTV markets: Deployments & new services. IDATE, 2006 • Internet TV: A new TV paradigm. IDATE, 2006 • The digital broadband value added services industry and markets in Europe: peer-to-peer networks and markets. IDATE, 2005 • Broadband coverage in Europe. IDATE, 2005 • Observatoire du haut débit et triple play en Europe. IDATE, 2005 • Study of the development of very high-speed access in France. IDATE, 2005 • Multi-Services on Broadband: Strategies for European operators. IDATE, 2004 • Rich content backbone service for ADSL network: the opportunity for the satellite. IDATE, 2004 • Addressable European market for satellite broadband services. Prospects for 2004-2010. IDATE, 2004 • Broadband Wireless Access (BWA): a way to bypass 3G. IDATE, 2004 • World Broadband Market. IDATE, 2004 • Power Line Communications: Challenges for the local loop. IDATE, 2004 • Broadband services for everyone over fixed wireless access network. IDATE, 2004 • Broadband Markets - Europe, Asia, North America. IDATE, 2003 • The economics of TV services over ADSL. IDATE, 2003 • Network development and future bandwidth demand. IDATE, 2001 • Les télécoms en Europe : la course aux hauts débits. IDATE, 2001 • Panorama des accès haut débit. IDATE, 2001 • Les services satellite dans la dynamique du large bande-. IDATE, 2001 • Marchés et opérateurs des services broadband en Europe. IDATE, 2000
Most important documents and information sources per project 6HOP • 6HOP Project Presentation (slide show) • 6HOP Description of Work (annex) • 6HOP Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • 6HOP Project website: www.cwc.oulu.fi/projects/6hop/
6INIT • 6INIT Project Presentation (slide show)
6POWER • 6POWER Description of Work • 6POWER Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • 6POWER Final Project Report • 6POWER Assessment Fiche
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ANDROID • ANDROID Description of Work (annex)
AQUILA • AQUILA Project Presentation (slide show) • AQUILA Description of Work (annex) • AQUILA Project Fact Sheet • AQUILA Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • AQUILA Extended Summary
ATLAS • ATLAS Project Presentation (slide show) • ATLAS Description of Work (annex)
ATS-NETWORK • ATS-NETWORK Description of Work (annex)
BASS • BASS Project Presentation (slide show) • BASS Project Fact Sheet
BRAHMS • BRAHMS Project Presentation (slide show)
CADENUS • CADENUS Project Presentation (slide show) • CADENUS Description of Work (annex) • CADENUS Project Fact Sheet
CAPRICORN • CADENUS Description of Work (annex)
CASSIC • CASSIC Description of Work (annex) • CASSIC Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
DAVID • DAVID Project Presentation (slide show) • DAVID Final Administrative Report
DEPAUDE • DEPAUDE Description of Work (annex)
DRIVE • DRIVE Project Presentation (slide show) • DRIVE Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
EMERGE • EMERGE Description of Work (annex)
ESTA
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• ESTA Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) Euro6IX • Euro6IX Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
FAIN • FAIN Project Presentation (slide show) • FAIN Description of Work (annex) • FAIN Project Fact Sheet
FASHION • FASHION Description of Work (annex) • FASHION Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
FORM • FORM Project Presentation (slide show) • FORM Project Fact Sheet
GCAP • GCAP Project Presentation (slide show) • GCAP Project Fact Sheet
GEOCAST • GEOCAST Project Presentation (slide show) • GEOCAST Project Fact Sheet
GNIUS • GNIUS Project Fact Sheet
HARMONICS • HARMONICS Project Presentation (slide show) • HARMONICS Description of Work (annex) • HARMONICS Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
HASvideo No detailed information found
IASON No detailed information found
InHoMNet • InHoMNet Description of Work (annex)
INTERNODE • INTERNODE Description of Work (annex)
INTERVAL • INTERVAL Description of Work (annex) • INTERVAL Project Fact Sheet
LION • LION Project Presentation (slide shows) • LION Description of Work (annex) • LION Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
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• LION Draft Final Report M3I • M3I Description of Work (annex) • M3I Project Fact Sheet
MAGIC • MAGIC Description of Work (annex) • MAGIC Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
MANTRIP • MANTRIP Project Presentation (slide shows) • MANTRIP Description of Work (annex) • MANTRIP Project Fact Sheet
MESCAL • MESCAL Description of Work (annex)
METEOR* • METEOR Project Presentation (slide show) • METEOR Description of Work (annex) • METEOR Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • METEOR Project Fact Sheet • METEOR Draft Final Report • METEOR Project Self Evaluation Form
MOEBIUS • MOEBIUS Project Presentation (slide show)
NETGATE • NETGATE Project Presentation (slide show) • NETGATE Project Fact Sheet
NGN-INITIATIVE • NGN-I Project Presentation (slide shows, articles) • NGN-I Discussions and Seminar Minutes
NGN-LAB See NGN-I
OPTIMIST • OPTIMIST Roadmap • OPTIMIST Description of Work (annex)
PALAS • PALAS Project Presentation (slide shows) • PALAS Description of Work (annex) • PALAS Project Fact Sheet
ProxiTV • ProxiTV Description of Work (annex) • ProxiTV Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
QOSIPS • QOSIPS Description of Work (annex)
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• QOSIPS Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) SCAMPI • SCAMPI Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • SCAMPI Progress Review Report (Oct. 2003)
SHUFFLE • SHUFFLE Project Presentation (slide show) • SHUFFLE Project Fact Sheet
SIRLAN • SIRLAN Project Presentation (slide show) • SIRLAN Description of Work (annex) • SIRLAN Project Fact Sheet
STOLAS • STOLAS Description of Work (annex)
SUITED • SUITED Project Presentation (slide show)
TEQUILA • TEQUILA Project Presentation (slide show) • TEQUILA Description of Work (annex) • TEQUILA Project Fact Sheet
TOPRATE • TOPRATE Description of Work (annex) • TOPRATE Technological Implementation Plan (TIP) • TOPRATE Periodic Reports • TOPRATE Final Report • TOPRATE Final Review
TORRENT • TORRENT Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)
Video Gateway • Video Gateway Project Presentation (slide show) • Video Gateway Description of Work (annex) • Video Gateway Project Fact Sheet
WINE • WINE Project Presentation (slide show) • WINE Gateway Description of Work (annex) • WINE Gateway Project Fact Sheet
WINMAN • WINMAN Project Presentation (slide show) • WINMAN Gateway Description of Work (annex) • WINMAN Gateway Project Fact Sheet • WINMAN Project Review Report
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10.2 List of Stakeholders Interviewed
Interviewee Organisation Name of interviewee Project Category participation
Politecnico di Torino (IT) Mr. Fabio Neri DAVID
BRAHMS Mr. Francesco Delli GEOCAST Universita degli Studi da Roma (IT Universities & Priscoli SUITED Research WINE Reasearch Center for Communications organisations Mr. Jorge Seoane METEOR (DK) IMEC (BE) Mr. Jean Roggen OPTIMIST Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (ES) Mr. Joan Serrat WINMAN ENST (FR) Mr. Didier Erasme OPTIMIST Telecom Italia (IT) Mr Antonio Manzalini LION Pirelli (IT) Mr. Giorgio Grasso ATLAS BT (UK) Mr. Peter Howell 6INIT T-Systems Nova (DE) Mr. Olaf Bonness 6INIT Fastweb (IT) Mrs. Carla Mariuzzo Industry Alcatel-Lucent (FR) Mr Dominique Chiaroni DAVID
Alcatel-Lucent (FR) Mr Jean Chrétien France Telecom (FR) Mr Pierrick Morand MESCAL CADENUS Telscom (CH) Mrs Sathyanarayana RAO NGN-INITIATIVE Telefonica I&D (ES) Mr Carlos Ralli Ucendo Euro6IX Public European Commission (BE) Mr. Paulo de Sousa Administrations European Commission (BE) Mr. Andrew Houghton
Non ETSI Mr. Ultan Mulligan Governmental INTUG Mr. Sergio Antocicco Organisations ITU Mr Behdad
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10.3 List of Projects in the Domain
The following is the list of the projects in the Broadband Technologies Domain under FP5. In this list, indications are provided per project on the number of participants that responded to the survey questionnaire. It needs to be reminded here that the questionnaire survey was conducted only among participants in RTD projects.
Finally, an overview is provided of the survey coverage of RTD projects and participants, overall and per sub-domain.
N° of participants Total nr. Sub-domain Project acronym Action type participating in the Participants survey
Network Integration 6HOP RTD 6 2 Network Integration 6INIT RTD 11 2 Network Integration 6POWER RTD 8 1 Network Integration ANDROID RTD 7 1 Network Integration AQUILA RTD 12 2 Optical Networks ATLAS RTD 11 5 Applications through seamless networks ATS-NETWORK TN 3 Not applicable Network Integration BASS RTD 7 3 Network Integration BRAHMS RTD 8 3 Applications through seamless networks CADENUS RTD 13 3 Optical Networks CAPRICORN RTD 3 0 Network Integration CASSIC RTD 5 1 Optical Networks DAVID RTD 131 3 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use DEPAUDE RTD 6 2 Network Integration DRIVE RTD 17 2 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use E-MERGE RTD 15 4 Optical Networks ESTA RTD 3 0 Network Integration Euro6IX RTD 17 3 Network Integration FAIN RTD 14 5 Optical Networks FASHION RTD 3 1 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use FORM RTD 11 2 Network Integration GCAP RTD 10 2 Network Integration GEOCAST RTD 10 1 Network Integration GNIUS RTD 6 1 Optical Networks HARMONICS RTD 8 3 Applications through seamless networks HAS Video RTD 11 1 Applications through seamless networks IASON RTD 7 1 Network Integration InHoMNet RTD 5 0 Applications through seamless networks INTERNODE RTD 7 0 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use INTERVAL RTD 6 0 Optical Networks LION RTD 18 2 Applications through seamless networks M3I RTD 7 2 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use MAGIC RTD 7 2 Applications through seamless networks MANTRIP RTD 8 0 Applications through seamless networks MESCAL RTD 5 1 Optical Networks METEOR RTD 8 2 Applications through seamless networks MOEBIUS RTD 10 1 Network Integration NETGATE RTD 6 1
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Network Integration NGN LAB AM 5 Not applicable Applications through seamless networks NGN-INITIATIVE TN 6 Not applicable Optical Networks OPTIMIST TN 6 Not applicable Network Integration PALAS RTD 6 0 Applications through seamless networks PROXITV RTD 5 0 Applications through seamless networks QOSIPS RTD 5 1 Applications through seamless networks SCAMPI RTD 9 3 Network Integration SHUFFLE RTD 10 1 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use SIRLAN RTD 8 3 Optical Networks STOLAS RTD 9 5 Network Integration SUITED RTD 12 2 Applications through seamless networks TEQUILA OTH 9 Not applicable Optical Networks TOPRATE RTD 8 3 Safety, Security and Comfort of Use TORRENT RTD 10 2 Network Integration VideoGateway RTD 6 0 Network Integration WINE RTD 10 1 Network Integration WINMAN RTD 11 1
Total Number RTD Number of RTD Questionnaire Return PROJECTS Projects Covered Rate Overall 51 38 75% Applications through Seamless Networks 12 7 58% Network Integration 22 17 77% Optical Networks 9 8 89% Safety, Security & Comfort of Use 7 6 86%
Total Number Number of Survey Questionnaire Return PARTICIPANTS Respondents Rate Overall 440 88 20% Applications through Seamless Networks 96 15 16% Network Integration 197 34 17% Optical Networks 84 24 29% Safety, Security & Comfort of Use 63 15 24%
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10.4 Brief Description of the Projects per Sub-domain
In this annex, an overview is provided, per sub-domain, of the (RTD) projects and their research focus.
Furthermore, per sub-domain, the covered research area and main results (also in terms of standardisation, dissemination, real deployment, etc.) are described into more detail for a selected set of projects (highlighted in the tables of overview).
10.4.1 Optical Networks
Project Research Topics ATLAS WDW fibre links up to 1 terabit/s CAPRICORN DWDM core network DAVID Packet-over-WDM network solutions ESTA 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch FASHION OTDM at 160 Gigabit/s and over HARMONICS Flexible wavelength routing (dynamically reconfigurable fibre infrastructure) LION Optical transport network METEOR Terabit optical MAN (40 channels up to 40 Gigabit/s) OPTIMIST Cluster project – Thematic Network STOLAS Packet-switched IP-over-WDM networks TOPRATE Transmission of several terabit/s capacity over one optical fibre
Acronym Main objectives and research Main results [topic] topics
ATLAS Wavelength Division Investigation of optical networks with transparent nodes, operating at [transmission] Multiplexing (WDM) 40Gbit/s and 80Gbit/s, with aggregate capacity around 1 Tbit/s. transmission in dispersion Testing of return-to-zero signal format. managed fibre links with an Proposal of three different AOWC solutions. aggregate capacity of 1 Proposal of dispersion management techniques. terabit/s and lengths in the Experimental/theoretical assessment of problems rising when high capacity 500-1,000 km range. fibre transmission is associated with an intermediate AOWC, evaluating: Study of the effects of an All- maximum signal distortion tolerated at the AOWC and maximum output Optical Wavelength Converter distortion tolerated by the further propagation down the rest of the link. (AOWC) located in some Definition of specifications for AOWC and fibre designers intermediate point along the link.
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DAVID Packet-over-WDM network Traffic studies to analyse IP traffic behaviour when transported over [multilayer solution based on optical WDM. packet-over- packets and asynchronous Definition of several classes of services, adapted to optical layer specifics WDM transmission over metro and (multi-QoS), to cope with voice, data and multimedia integration. network] backbone distances. Search for the optimum combination, capitalizing on both optics and Considering traffic properties electronics, to reach multi-Tb/s capacity. and management issues. Proposal of optimised buffering schemes, access control protocols and routing algorithms: -on the metro side, buffer-less network with capacity beyond 1 Tb/s (2.5Gb/s line-rate) using a medium access control protocol to support multi-QoS; -on the backbone side, network based on opto-electronic optical packet router (2.5/10Gb/s line-rate) with 10 Tb/s capacity, exploiting a multi-layer (wavelength and packet) opto-electronic medium access. Development of a control protocol guaranteeing interoperability between packet and WDM levels. Investigation of network management issues. Set-up of a network test bed showing a buffer-less multi-QoS optical packet metro network. Development of fast and highly integrated optical space- and wavelength- switching modules, based on semiconductor optical amplifiers (up to 32 gates per module). Development of electronic subsystems for clock recovery, buffering, and switching based on SiGe and III/V (element-group) technologies. ESTA Developing of an 8 port, Specification of the design and system architecture for a 10GE 8 port switch scalable to 64 port, non- and practical realization of the switching fabric. blocking 10 Gigabit Ethernet Development of the h/w and s/w to control and manage the switch. (10GE) switch and Carried out an extensive program of tests with two data service providers demonstrating it over the over MAN and WAN distances. LAN, MAN and WAN. Strong contribution to standards in this area (IEEE, ITU-T).
FASHION Optical Time Division Definition of the OTDM network concepts based on the analysis of current [OTDM] Multiplexing (OTDM) point- physical system limitations including economical considerations. to-point transmission and Time-domain OTDM add-drop multiplexers: time-domain routing for all- -assessment of their impact on the transmission performance; optical networks at single- -design of architectures, stressing the importance of compactness, channel data rates of 160Gb/s reliability and modularity. and higher. Proposal of node synchronisation schemes for OTDM networking. Networking at 160Gb/s Design of tuneable dispersion compensation subsystems. exploiting OTDM add and Proposal of solutions for clock recovery implementing techniques for a 40- drop multiplexers (ADMs) GHz clock to be extracted from a 160-Gb/s signal. ADM implementation exploiting Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) based all-optical switching technology. Experimental ADM performance evaluation: -first in back-to-back -then in various transmission configurations, including assessment of the effect of cascading ADMs. Field trial implementation. Dissemination of design criteria and specifications for OTDM network designers.
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HARMONICS Common dynamically Architecture definition of an access networks enabling QoS-differentiated [optical access] reconfigurable fibre IP traffic and based on various types of shared-fibre infrastructures (e.g. infrastructure, deploying Passive Optical Network - PON), feeding a range of last-mile customer flexible wavelength routing access networks (deploying twisted pair, coaxial cable, wireless drops). integrated with flexible time Exploitation of flexible wavelength routing in the feeder network to slot allocation in a new support IP-based services with different QoS classes. Medium Access Control Definition of interfaces between the flexible DWDM fibre feeder network (MAC) protocol. This and: HIPERLAN2 wireless interactive broadband in-door access system, infrastructure should feed and twisted-pair VDSL system. various last-mile access Control plane protocols for a range of QoS classes for IP-based services, networks, and provide managing the adaptive allocation of the network resources exploiting a capacity on demand while new medium access control protocol which deploys both the wavelength accounting for Quality of and time dimension. Service requirements for user Development of novel optical modules: traffic. An adaptive resource -flexible wavelength router manager supporting the MAC -multi-wavelength bi-directional optical fibre amplifier protocol. -adjustable power splitter -ranging protocol and ring network protection -low-cost Optical Network Unit (ONU) at the subscriber end -multi-wavelength Optical Line Terminal (OLT) at the local exchange end. Techno-economic analyses identifying gradual migration scenarios from today's access networks and assessing techno-economical feasibility of the proposed solutions. Laboratory trials. Field trial with real users. Contribution to standardisation process. LION Giving answers to Network Identification of: interworking and interconnection requirements between [control plane] Operators about client-server layer networks and domains, and functional requirements of interoperability of client an IP-based transport network. transport networks (e.g. ATM, Definition of the OA&M (Operation, Administration & Management) SDH, IP-based) over an optical based on ITU-T functional modelling. server one recommended as Specifications for interfaces between network clients and OTN and Optical Transport Network between OTN domains. (OTN). Enhancement of the functional architecture of an OTN to account digital The major target is to design optical container. and test over a testbed a multi- Definition of Network Node Interfaces (NNI) based on digital optical layer resilient network in a container. multi-domain environment. Definition of an "umbrella" management architecture that enables integration of TMN (Telecommunication Management Network), WBEM (Web-based management), and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). Systems and sub-systems implementation to test in a testbed. Interaction with standardisation bodies (ITU-T) METEOR Tera-bit optical metropolitan Requirement identification for management at the optical layer, [metro ring] area network based on an performance management, quality of service, network survivability, optical ring with transmission quality of signal monitoring. of 40 DWDM channels at bit- Novel optical add-drop multiplexer configurations, incorporating high- rates up to 40 Gbit/s. speed transmitters and receivers modules. Demonstration of the concept Proposal of OADMs (optical add drop multiplexer) based on a wavelength of service transparency, grouping concept, with transponders operating at 40 Gbit/s. enabling transport of various Design and trial of No Return to Zero (NRZ) and Return to Zero (RZ) 40 types of services while not Gbit/s transmission systems. requiring a truly optically Field trial system (a ring with 4 nodes) conducted by T-Nova. transparent network. Extensive contribution to standardisation process. OPTIMIST Strategic clustering to co- Organization and co-ordination of topical IST-cluster workshops. [thematic ordinate interactions, Participation to "external"-workshops (COST, EURESCOM, etc). network] information exchange and Dissemination activities. discussions between all the Drawing, editing and publishing of a "Roadmap on Photonic Technologies projects related to photonics in and Networking". the whole IST program. Electronic OPTIMIST newsletter. Co-ordination of photonic activities and trials carried out on national level by the EU Member States.
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STOLAS Novel stacked optical labelling Definition of requirements put on a high-throughput data network by [optical label techniques enabling optical operators, users and services. switching] bypassing of electrical IP Traffic flows analysis. routers, in order to improve Definition of network management and control functions. the throughput of packet- Proposal of network and node architectures based on stacked-label: switched IP-over-WDM -data payload is modulated on the intensity of an optical carrier; networks. -the wavelength of the signal is assigned as the first optical label level; -the second label level is modulated orthogonally to the data, by Differential Phase-Shift Keying (DPSK) or Frequency-Shift Keying (FSK) modulating the carrier. Network and node architectures performance/costs comparison. Analysis of physical layer behaviour. Development of key optical components and modules -fast modulatable widely tunable optical transmitters; -optical stacked-label swapper -label-controlled optical cross connect and add/drop node; -multi-wavelength 2R regenerator. Development of electrical circuits supporting the optical components. Development of an interface with commercial electrical IP routers. Laboratory test bed System integration and field trial in co-operation with two running IST projects (also deploying a limited network management system). Dissemination of guidelines for designers. Contribution to standardisation process. TOPRATE Development and Assessment of advantages in space of terminal buildings, lower power [OTDM] demonstration of advanced consumption, less complexity of using the next bitrate hierarchy of 160 system technologies enabling Gbit/s per wavelength channel. the transmission of several Investigation of basic system limitations targeting for reaching ultimate Terabit/s capacity over one transmission capacity 640 Gbit/s and above), and achieving highest optical fibre, Demonstration of possible spectral efficiency. multi-Terabit/s transmission Modeling and simulation of systems and networks supporting multi- over installed European fibre Terabit/s OTDM-based Nx160 Gbit/s DWDM as well as 640 Gbit/s and >1 infrastructure. Tbit/s systems. Evaluation of fibre transmission impairments for Nx160 Gbit/s DWDM, focusing in particular on the impact of fibre types. Development of novel building blocks: -transmission channel management and control; -RZ pulse-sources; -OTDM transmitter subsystems; -OTDM receiver comprising optical demultiplexers and clock recovery. System experiments in lab testbeds. Feasibility demonstration using optical fibre network infrastructures provided by European operators.
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10.4.2 Network Integration
Project Research Topics 6HOP Heterogeneous Wireless IPv6 network 6INIT IPv6 transit service 6POWER IPv6 over PLC networks ANDROID Active network management in the context of IPv6 AQUILA Dynamic end-to-end QoS provisioning in IP networks BASS Broadband Information Highway bridging legacy and next generation networks BRAHMS Universal access interface for broadband satellite multimedia services CASSIC Interoperability of interactive services on HFC network DRIVE Easy access to mobile multimedia services from vehicular environments Euro6IX First Pan European non commercial IPv6 Internet Exchange Network FAIN Open, flexible, programmable and dependable network architecture based on interoperable active IP network nodes GCAP End-to-end multicast transport protocol GEOCAST Terrestrial and satellite segments, building blocks and protocols for next generation multicast systems GNIUS New business framework based on a mobile network interconnecting diverse domains (clients, traders, servers) InHomNet Next generation in-home network Netgate High performance protocol gateway to bridge the "compatibility" gap between different telecom networks (SS7, IN, ATM, GSM, GPRS…) PALAS Potential of the PLC technology SHUFFLE Architecture for efficient, scalable & robust real time control of resources in 3G mobile systems SUITED Integrated satellite/terrestrial broadband communication infrastructure for the support of mobile and portable, QoS guarantee, Internet services Video Gateway between the next generation Internet streaming video standards and the narrowband Internet own Gateway standards WINE Fully IPv6-based globally optimised wireless Internet environment with QoS awareness WINMAN Open, flexible and Integrated Management solution offering Configuration, Fault and Performance management for IP over hybrid transport networks
Acronym Main objectives and research topics Main results
6POWER Research of the native support and Integration of IPv6 protocols and advanced services over Power deployment of IPv6, QoS and other Line Communications Technologies, and the related advanced services over Power Line dissemination/standardisation activities. Communication networks. Design, Procurement and Deployment of project networks and the Research native IPv6/IPv4 and related interconnection with major IPv6 test beds, based on other protocols or advanced network services technologies, according to defined specifications. (QoS, security, multicast, mobility) Development of the software and hardware for the devices to be support over broadband Power Line, integrated with IPv6 and PLC in several platforms/devices Adaptation and/or integration of several next generation Adaptation of several next generation applications, mainly related to audio and video, to be used over applications and services required for a the PLC/IPv6 implemented network. correct evaluation of this technology. Trial and evaluation activities, involving users, in order to use the network, advanced services and applications.
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AQUILA Dynamic end to end QoS provisioning in Integration of research and educational facilities with industrial IP networks for QoS sensitive partners. applications. Supporting of any relevant kind of IP applications by the End-user Design of a cost-effective, scalable and Application Toolkit. backward compatible QoS architecture Integration of the system modules at the trial sites in Helsinki, enhancing the Differentiated Services Vienna and Warsaw. architecture with dynamic resource and Practical verification of the developed solution. admission control. Network services (inter- and intra-domain) PCBR, PVBR, PMM, Developing and integration of a PMC services meet QoS requirements specified for each service. distributed QoS measurement For secondary access link the results show that some QoS targets infrastructure. were not quite reached, but sufficient differences between traffic classes were noticed. The user trial confirms the expectations that VoIP needs a prioritised service in IP network. PCBR service supports VoIP sufficiently. For intra- and inter-domain RCL performance the results were very promising. For the Resource Pool Mechanism the trial showed the stability of the algorithm. AQUILA measurement tools were useful and necessary components for the trials in addition to other existing measurement equipment. Differences and common points of the Western European and Central & Eastern European network markets in particular were acquired. On the basis of the gained information, general value chains were generated and the exploitation plans of each project partner were updated. BASS Specification and development of dial-up Realization of two different project pilots. to broadband networking using ADSL In the first pilot stage, a Multi Services BB network (including technology for SOHO and residential Video) was built using ADSL in the local loop. users. In the second pilot stage, which took input from the methodology Bridging voice, data and video networks modelling, the Technology Partners evolved the pilot to address and thus provide one network capable of "bridging" the voice and data networks. Special attention was transporting the legacy, traditionally devoted to verify the QoS of VoIP (Voice over IP) and the QoS of circuit-switched, services as well as the VoATM (Voice over ATM) via this network. new Broadband services. All industrial partners effectively used the assessed technologies in Development of a Quality of Service their respective commercial offers. Methodology Framework to ensure that the Telecom Operators can meet the QoS demands of both end-users and service- providers. BRAHMS Definition of a universal user access QoS and seamless broadband service provision (both IP and real- interface for Broadband Satellite time) Applicability of RTI/RTD approach to other existing and Multimedia Services which is open to planned systems. different satellite system Degree of separation between RTI and RTD layers with different implementations, including GEO and access technology. LEO constellations. Validation of key BMSS features through development and testing of applications on a prototype testbed. Contributions to standards for universal access to broadband multimedia services. Flexible, re-configurable platform assessment of broadband multimedia satellite systems. Preparation of industrial choices for advanced satellite Broadband Multimedia Systems. DRIVE Increasing the total spectrum efficiency Specifications for the co-operation of cellular and broadcast optimising the inter-working of different networks in a common frequency range with dynamic spectrum radio networks (GSM, GPRS, UMTS, allocation. DAB, DVB-T) in a common dynamically Development of an IP-based mobile infrastructure that ensures allocated frequency range. optimised inter-working of radio networks for spectrum efficient Enhance the co-operation between provision of high quality multimedia services. network elements and applications in an Demonstrations of key concepts and validation of the benefits of adaptive manner. the technology by user trials and field tests.
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Euro6IX Design and deployment of the first Pan- Specifications, deployment and provisioning of efficient European non-commercial IPv6 Internet interconnectivity for the IPv6 European level Internet. Exchange (IX) Network Involvement of research entities and non-commercial trial users in order to use the realized network, advanced services and applications. Promotion of the IPv6 interests by ISPs and users through test and trials. The infrastructure of Euro6IX consists of the following different network levels: IX-level (Regional native IPv6 exchanges), backbone-level (Pan-European core network that interconnects the regional exchanges and creates the highest level in the network hierarchy) and node-level (ISPs and other providers accessing the core network to provide IPv6 services and end user access). The users are connected by means of a variety of access technologies, including legacy IPv4 networks and services whenever no IPv6 native links are available or feasible. This level includes a set of academic, research and non-commercial trial users who use native IPv6 services and generate IPv6 native traffic. Dissemination among the targeted recipients (IETF, RIPE, fixed and mobile operators, Summits, etc.). FAIN Development of an open, flexible, The project developed a novel, Active Node and Network programmable and dependable (reliable, architecture, an interoperable solution for flexible and secure secure, and manageable) network service provisioning in IP networks, a programmable system architecture based on novel active node for flexible management provisioning in active networks, concepts, supporting two classes of distributed solution for dynamic programming of service and active applications: Policy-based management functions. Network Management and Dynamic The projects set-up the first Pan-European Active Network with Provisioning of Protocols. international connections to other non-European active network infrastructure and validated the overall project results with interworking with other test-beds Dissemination of project results both within the IST community and to the appropriate industrial fora and standard bodies, e.g. IETF, TINA-C, OMG, IEEE, ITU-T. Recommendations and guidelines for the development and wide- deployment of active network systems in an open service market. GCAP Developing for the future Internet of two Definition and evaluation of a new end-to-end multicast transport new end-to-end multicast and protocol and a new end-to-end multimedia multicast transport multimedia transport protocols, protocol for supporting dedicated or specialised applications embedded in a new global architecture having guaranteed QoS requirements. to provide a guaranteed QoS to Definition and evaluation of a new integrated global multi- advanced network end-to-end architecture for supporting innovative Multimedia Multi-peer Multi-network multimedia and cooperative applications needing guaranteed applications. Quality of Service. Proposing a design approach to rapidly deploy and use such new protocols, that are to be developed on top of the new QoS architecture based on IPv6 and DiffServ, by means of an active network based technology. Realization of two experiments using the national research networks and their European interconnection. InHoMNet Development of a next generation in- Integration of several digital devices and services in complete home network, integrating different network architecture. All devices communicate with each other technologies with regard to new in- over an IEEE 1394 date backbone. house buses and prototypes of end Specification, design and developing of an architecture, with devices including consumer electronics, related interfaces, that allows various A/V devices, white goods white goods, and telecommunication and terminals to be interlinked over a multimedia in-home devices in order to provide convergence network and be utilised by innovative applications. between the different technologies. Specification of the middleware architecture and common API's as well as guidelines for the user interface. The fully integrated system verified by a number of end-users and the participation of an industrial user.
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SHUFFLE Creation of a novel architecture for Implementation of advanced and distributed software technologies efficient, scalable & robust real time (particularly Intelligent Agent Technology) in a resource control of resources in 3rd generation configuration system that dynamically allocates radio and mobile systems in the context of realistic associated fixed network resources in third generation mobile business models of network providers, communication systems to provide: service providers and customers. -end-users with an improved and more cost-effective service, and -operators with increased opportunities for contingency management where for financial, social, safety or environmental reasons, allocation policies need to be dynamically changed. Evaluation of how the resulting resource allocation system improves the overall performance of the network (in particular assessing its adaptability to localised high traffic demands and fluctuations) and to compare the scheme with more centralised approaches. Dissemination of results and promoting of Agent Technology in Standards bodies. SUITED Definition of the network architecture System and service requirements for the GMBS (Global Mobile with related performance evaluation for Broadband System) as part of the new generation broadband the provision of mobile Internet services mobile Internet. over complementary satellite and Optimisation of the existing IETF standards for the mobile terrestrial components. terrestrial and satellite business users. Demonstration of the ability to provide Definition of the GMBS network architecture and performance QoS sensitive mobile services (e.g. QoS evaluation from a service and network perspective. measured in terms of bandwidth Prototyping of the multi-mode terminals including both a satellite availability, delay, packet loss, etc.) on section and wireless terrestrial components. Processing of the advanced Internet scenarios. results of the validation campaign qualifying the GMBS Integration of navigation functionality, at performance against the required Internet QoS. terminal level, to improve relevant capabilities and offered services To expand / further exploit the results of the related ACTS projects: SECOMS/ABATE, ASSET and ACCORD. Video Developing a gateway between video Launch of a prototype video gateway to allow the first stage of 4 Gateway streaming standards of late 90s in use on separate trials. the narrowband Internet and those to be Gateway and video server enhancements and integration to allow used by the next generation Internet. A a second stage trials. gateway between different video sources originating from analog video (DVB compressed video, stored MPEG video and DVD) and the narrowband Internet. Dynamic bit-rate adaptation and protocol conversion between networks for live and on-demand audio video applications. WINE Building a fully IPv6-based globally Implementation of three testbeds with simulation models optimised wireless Internet environment dedicated for specific environments and IPv4/v6 implementations. with QoS awareness. Developing of true wireless Internet solution that is as far as possible radiolink independent. Building wireless IP adaptation layer that is configurable so that it can be optimised for different platforms and links. Implementation of a wireless Internet protocol fully compatible to current Internet world environments.
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WINMAN Integrated network Requirement identification and specification definition for an open, [managemen management solution to distributed, reliable and scalable management architecture, supporting Service t plane] provide end-to-end IP Level Agreements for IP connectivity. connectivity services derived Proposal of optimized architecture and systems for integrated network from Service Level management of IP connectivity services over hybrid transport networks. Two Agreements (SLAs). integration “directions”: Scalable management -integration of the management at Network Management level per technology architecture for IP domain (vertical integration); connectivity services on -support of IP-connectivity spanning different WDM sub networks exploiting hybrid transport networks an Inter-Domain Network Management System (INMS) (horizontal (ATM, SDH and WDM. integration). Identification of evolution Development of the Configuration, Fault and Performance (CFP) Management scenarios for end-to-end IP functions. transport from IP / ATM / Setup of an infrastructure including several sites to demonstrate and validate SDH / WDM towards the system. IP/WDM. Interaction with standardisation bodies (ITU-T).
10.4.3 Applications through seamless networks
Project Research Topics CADENUS Integrated solution for the creation, configuration and provisioning of end-user services with QoS guarantees in Premium IP networks HASvideo Generic requirements for broadband IP video-based services IASON Evaluation procedures of heterogeneous networks, services and applications INTERNODE Service provisioning support platform for nomadic users M3I Next generation systems to enable Internet resource management through market sources MANTRIP Network management applications based on Mobile Agent Technology MESCAL Scalable, incremental solutions that enable flexible deployment and delivery of inter-domain QoS across the Internet MOEBIUS Mobile extranet platform PROXITV High bandwidth Internet & TV solution QOSIPS Support for QoS management, service differentiation and price setting of ISPs SCAMPI Scalable monitoring platform for the Internet TEQUILA Intra and inter-domain Service Level Specifications
Acronym Main objectives and research topics Main results
CADENUS Developing, implementation, validation and A service configuration and provisioning demonstration of a framework for the configuration and framework for services with QoS guarantees. provisioning of end-user services with QoS guarantees in Recommendations to network providers and Premium IP networks (e.g. for voice over IP). service providers on service provisioning in Premium IP networks which included a mix of network technologies like DiffServ/IntServ, MPLS, ATM, IP/ATM etc. Recommendations to service and network providers on common QoS monitoring and management tools to be used in operation. A standard way to create and manage Service Level Agreements. HAS video Providing a baseline set of generic requirements for VCOS (Video Communications System) and Broadband IP video-based Care, Tele-assistance & Network Management Software Releases Tenant services. and prototypes of HAS Video Box and Call Creation of a generic low cost Home Access System Centre desk. (HAS) Video box with an Open Access Network Integration of prototypes with Tele-Service Interface, an Open video CODEC and services interface, Applications. and a gateway to the home via the converging (Battibus, Recommendations for HAS Video Large EIBus and EHS) standard Home Bus. Scale Manufacture.
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INTERNODE Investigation, enhancements and demonstration on a real SPS platform and IP VPN service creation network, technologies for the efficient provisioning and design. service level interworking of IP VPN services for Prototype of the technology experiment, and nomadic users across multi-domain and heterogeneous Application server & Client prototypes. networks. Addressing multi-domain heterogeneous SPS platform integrated with HIPERLAN & (Wireless LAN, GPRS/UMTS and Next Generation IP GPRS/UMTS. Technology experiment & IP based networks with mobility features) inter-working VPN service. and security standards supporting access to Internet and Application integration. Intranet services. MANTRIP Design, developing, testing, validation and provisioning Implementation of individual generic of a set of novel network management applications based management operations on specific network on Mobile Agent Technology (MAT) for managing IP elements in a vendor-independent way. based networks and to evaluate MAT in the context of Implementation of the management Network Management. applications based on mobile agents. Integration of the individual management applications into a network management system (namely the MANTRIP NMS), and their validation on the MANTRIP testbed. MOEBIUS Identifying an integrated mobile service platform, i.e. the Implementation of the Mobile Extranet Mobile Extranet platform focusing on a global co- concept. ordination of micro- (i.e., Layer 2) and macro (i.e., Layer Demonstration of healthcare applications 3) mobilities provided by the state-of-the art and future over the Mobile Extranet based platform. mobile systems. To use the platform for applications in Evaluation of user acceptance and SOCIO- different sectors, i.e., health care, and remote control, in economic benefits for the implemented set of order to demonstrate the benefits for end users in public applications. health, business and residential environments TCP/IP enhancement. SCAMPI Developing and testing of a scalable monitoring platform An in-depth study of the various for the Internet, to enable, accelerate and promote the engineering options for designing an open development of novel measurement-based tools for and extensible architecture from the improving network services and networking research in hardware level to the application Europe and beyond. Developing of high-performance programming interface, including the crucial monitoring components and a flexible architecture to middleware for resource control, resource support a secure, programmable, multi-domain and sharing and security. shared monitoring infrastructure. Implemented the hardware and software components of the SCAMPI platform, conducted integration and testing, and developed monitoring tools. Evaluated the components, architecture and monitoring tools in various environments to provide feedback for architecture refinement, and producing an overall assessment of the SCAMPI platform. TEQUILA Study, specification, implementation and validation of a A validated framework for the set of service definition and traffic engineering tools to provisioning/definition of end-to-end QoS obtain quantitative end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) through the Internet guarantees through careful planning, dimensioning and Models for access and inter-domain SLSs. dynamic control of scalable and simple qualitative traffic Specification and evaluation of intra- and management techniques within the Internet (i.e., inter-domain SLS negotiation protocols. Diffserv). A validated framework for end-to-end QoS monitoring Validated intra- and inter-domain traffic engineering methods, tools and algorithms deployable in Diffserv capable IP networks.
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10.4.4 Safety, security and comfort of use
Project Research Topics Dependability for non-safety critical, distributed, embedded automation systems with both IP (inter-site) DEPAUDE and dedicated (intra-site) connections Availability and functioning of vehicle based emergency call systems from any vehicle anywhere in Europe E-MERGE via the development of a X-112 call Open adaptable framework to support the management of trusted Co-operative Inter-Enterprise FORM Environments encompassing telecommunication facilities and business automation systems INTERVAL Real-time requirements, such as timing parameters, in real-time systems Increase of the performance, reliability, availability and safety of complex systems by providing a real-time MAGIC architecture which is able to diagnose abnormal and faulty conditions Tool Kit Platform for the installation of applications for home and building equipment, which would SIRLAN communicate within or outside of the building through any type of communication network TORRENT Testbed for multi-service residential access networks
Acronym Main objectives and research topics Main results
DEPAUDE Developing an architecture and a Specifications of the relevant state-of-the-art evaluated methodology to ensure dependability for for application domains and missing features. non-safety critical, distributed, embedded Development of dependable system architecture: automation systems with both IP (inter-site) situation-specific FT (Fault Tolerant) strategies / FT and dedicated (intra-site) connections. middleware. Providing feasibility demonstrations of intra- Design of intra-site mechanisms (client-to-backbone site and inter-site features that allow the interface, ARIEL translator). target application domains to withstand Design of inter-site mechanisms (gateway, UML changes in the dynamic environment. specification). Implementation of Basic Services Layer (BSL) and first tests. Feasibility demonstrations to withstand the changes in the dynamic environment. E-MERGE Ensuring the availability and functioning of Introduction of a harmonised European extended E-call vehicle based emergency call systems from (X-112) system for a faster and more effective emergency any vehicle anywhere in Europe via the assistance. development of an X-112 call.
INTERVAL Defining timed extensions to existing Development of the extensions needed in real-time standardised languages (SDL, MSC and system design for the standard notations SDL TTCN), taking into account real-time (specification and design), MSC (use cases) and TTCN requirements such as timing constraints, (testing). Commercial take-up of the tool extensions and during the whole development process of new modules led by the tool vendors. Introduction of the real-time systems. Submission to the new methods and tools to industry led by the end-users standardisation bodies at ITU-T and ETSI of and academics. these timed extensions. Transfer of project results on the notations (SDL, MSC and TTCN) to the relevant standardisation bodies (ITU-T and ETSI) led by the academics and tool vendors. SIRLAN Developing a platform for any kind of home Prototyping of SIRLAN gateway, services and data application linked to a communication exchange software. system, defining new ad-hoc architecture, with dedicated hardware and software solutions. Development of the software: modular RTOS (Real-Time Operating System), drivers, plug and play platform and gateway application. Development of a server toolkit, and a configuration and remote maintenance tool for installers.
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10.5 Detailed Survey Results
Separate report
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