Championing better broadband for New Zealand 2019 / ISSUE 10

Spark’s journey Jolie Hodson on the path from traditional telco to digital services

ONLINE COMMUNITIES NIELSEN’S LAW WI-FI 6 BROUGHT TO YOU BY Local news and Predicting future Faster home chat sites data speeds wireless networks Contents 2019 / ISSUE 10

9 26 Simon Moutter 8K TV Spark's outgoing managing The pictures are stunning, but do director reflects on seven years at we really need 8K television? the top of NZ's largest telco 11 Wi-Fi 6 Home wireless networking is getting a much needed shake-up 14 Rural ISPs Gisbourne.net and WIZwireless on the challenges of rural broadband

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES DEVOLI Everyone has heard of Facebook, The rise of the virtual internet but New Zealand has its own service provider thriving online communities 30 24 Nielsen’s Law Exams over the web For years the industry couldn’t COVER STORY NZQA is trialling paperless keep up with customer bandwidth Jolie Hodson, Spark’s new chief school exams demand. Fibre has changed that executive on the company’s 6 transformation and what comes next

REGULARS

1 Editorial Rugby World Cup pushes fibre demand 2 In Brief Vodafone sale, RANT Apple TV+, data Bill Bennett on mourning records broken 33 the end of dial tone

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Editorial 1

Editor Bill Bennett Chorus Editorial Consultants Ian Bonnar, Steve Pettigrew, Holly Cushen Contributors Scott Bartley, Heather Wright, Hadyn Green, Johanna Egar, Sarah Putt, Peter Griffin Senior Account Director Rugby World LauraGrace McFarland Designers Jessie Marsh, Julian Pettitt Account Executive Cup: fibre’s last Paige Fleming On the cover Photograph by Keri Little Photography inflection point

When the Ultra-Fast Broadband network was arrival of New Zealand’s first large, legitimate Published by ICG PO Box 77027, Mt Albert still just a twinkle in a politician’s eye, planners streaming library. Auckland 1350, New Zealand thought one in five phone lines might switch Before Lightbox, you had to make do with www.icg.co.nz by 2019. A 25 percent uptake was the most questionable sources of entertainment. The ISSN 2624-1137 (Print) ISSN 2624-1145 (Online) optimistic early projection. Sure, more people alternative was digital jiu-jitsu. You had to juggle would switch to fibre one day, but that would with foreign credit cards, VPNs (virtual private take a long time. networks) and fake overseas addresses. It didn’t happen that way. At the end of last Fibre companies saw a noticeable upswing The Download is championed by Chorus year fibre uptake hit 50 percent. That’s more than in connection orders after Lightbox began. PO Box 632, Wellington 6140 double the most hopeful expectation. We got There is a kink in the uptake graph. Or to use www.chorus.co.nz there with a year of the UFB build still left to go. mathematical jargon: an inflection point. The contents of The Download That far-sighted decision to kick start The growth curve steepened again in early are protected by copyright. Please fibre paid off better than 2015. That’s when Netflix feel free to use the information in this issue of The Download, with anyone expected. launched in New Zealand. attribution to The Download by Streaming video was Netflix was already popular, Chorus Limited. Opinions expressed 'That far-sighted in The Download are not necessarily always part of the plan for but without a local option those of the publisher or the editor. fibre. We knew about it decision to kick- it was a pain to use. The Information contained in The when the UFB network was New Zealand launch Download is correct at the time start fibre paid off of printing and while all due care being planned. Streaming removed these barriers. and diligence has been taken in the was always suggested as one better than anyone We are now seeing a preparation of this magazine, the of the potential applications third uptick thanks to Spark publisher is not responsible for any expected' mistakes, omissions, typographical of the technology. Sport’s Rugby World Cup errors or changes to product and What we couldn’t see streaming service. Fibre service descriptions over time. then was how fast streaming would take off. It connection orders are going gangbusters. Crews has also changed the way people consume video. are working overtime and weekends to meet Binge viewing is a streaming video phenomenon. demand. Sales of large screen televisions are Networks releasing big shows to the entire world booming. Routers and home networks are being at the same time is also a direct consequence of upgraded. The clock is ticking. fibre uptake. When the first game kicks off in Tokyo on The ‘too-long-didn’t-read’ story is that Netflix September 20, a clear majority of New Zealand triggered faster than expected fibre uptake. homes will have fast fibre. Connect with us Facebook.com/ChorusNZ There’s something in this. Yet, Netflix is only It’s unlikely we will see another inflection Twitter/ChorusNZ one of the three waves of user interest that have point. By the time the dust clears from the rugby Chorus NZ Limited on LinkedIn boosted fibre demand. tournament, fibre will be normal. The first came when Spark’s Lightbox opened www.thedownload.co.nz for business in 2014. Lightbox marked the Bill Bennett

2019 / Issue 10 2

In brief

Infratil, Brookfield buy Vodafone New Zealand Vodafone Group has sold Vodafone Paris says Vodafone has 40 partner New Zealand to Infratil and Brookfield agreements worldwide. New Zealand Asset Management. will be the biggest. The deal means the local business The deal is worth $3.4 billion. will license the Vodafone name and Infratil and Brookfield will each make branding. It will have preferential a $1 billion equity contribution. The GOOGLE overseas roaming arrangements and rest will be funded from Vodafone access to central procurement and New Zealand level debt and equity LAUNCHES various other services. But the local team reserved for Vodafone New Zealand’s STADIA – NETFLIX will no longer report to the UK parent. senior executives. Vodafone New Zealand’s chief The parties have eight months to FOR GAMERS executive, Jason Paris, says this will get Overseas Investment Office and Google has entered the video games free the business to focus on local Commerce Commission permission. market with Stadia, a cloud-powered opportunities, rather than follow a Infratil says there is a strong case for streaming service that delivers games strategy decided on the other side the Commerce Commission to grant to any device. It works with phones, of the world. permission because of the competitive tablets, computers and televisions. It means you no longer need a box Among other things, he anticipates nature of the fixed broadband market. to play games. There is a Stadia this will free the company to push Vodafone is New Zealand’s second controller, but you can also use unlimited mobile plans and to largest telco behind Spark. During the existing controllers. move more vigorously into fixed last year, it earned revenue of $2 billion Google has not yet mentioned prices wireless broadband. and had EBITDA of $463 million. This and says Stadia will initially only be For now, the deal is conditional. puts its price at a little over seven times available in the US, Canada and Approval is needed from both the earnings. While this is at the high end parts of Europe. Overseas Investment Office and the of the range for a telecommunications While earlier game-streaming Commerce Commission before the business, there were other bidders services have suffered from latency transaction can be completed. circling the business. problems, Google says its worldwide infrastructure will cure that. However, critics have pointed out that no amount of Google infrastructure can overcome poor local networks. Also, many telcos and ISPs may struggle to deal with the flood of traffic that could result if Stadia takes off. A report in Australasia’s Communications Day says each user is likely to consume between 15 and 25Mbps of bandwidth, which means carriers will face loads much larger than they see from Netflix and other streaming television services. It quotes analyst Rudolf van der Berg, who says mobile networks “would likely buckle” under the load if every user gets 25Mbps. He says even 5G will struggle as it is not designed for 10 Intratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski (left) to 40 people per cell all using 25Mbps with Vodafone NZ chief sustained speeds. executive Jason Paris

thedownload.co.nz The Download | In Brief 3

APPLE LAUNCHES AIRPLANE BEATS INTERNET NETFLIX FOR BLACK HOLE IMAGE COMPETITOR When astronomers needed to shift vast amounts of data to image a black hole, WITH TV+ they turned to an old-fashioned way of Apple says it will launch a video-on- moving it. demand service later this year. Emulating “To image a black hole, they needed Netflix’s model, the company says its TV+ half a ton of hard drives containing five petabytes of data. The fastest way service will include original content as to transfer that data? Airplane. An well as content from popular television airplane data transfer from Mauna Kea channels. There will be pay-per-view to Massachusetts would have a data options as well as a subscription service. rate of roughly 14GB per second.” Apple will deliver TV+ via an app that it will Jason Snell, Twitter 11/4/2019 offer on all its products as well as a number of smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Poorer students without home internet access falling behind Home internet access is a big issue for concern is the school networks, with 14 N4L surveys schools every year to help it poorer students, Network For Learning’s percent saying they need extra network better understand their technology needs (N4L) latest survey reveals. security help. N4L’s experience backs and challenges. This latest survey focused The Crown company that now up this concern – it blocked 82 percent on connections – of schools, classrooms manages most schools’ networks says more security threats in 2018 than the and students – in particular. 85 percent of decile 1-3 schools that previous year. “We need to understand the journey responded to its survey reported a quarter Over 450 schools responded to the schools are on with technology,” says N4L’s of their students lacked home internet survey – 20 percent of schools – which CEO, Larrie Moore. access. This is affecting their ability to asked them to rate the internet service “This survey gives us helpful insights, learn, with schools reporting a third of N4L provides. It got a 97 percent so we can be equipped to support schools these students being affected, especially satisfaction score. throughout their journey.” those in high school. Equitable technology access is a big Larrie Moore, issue, says the survey report. “Lack of N4L chief executive home internet access can be a barrier to learning, as these students… are more likely to be left behind and under-served.” The report also revealed technology was getting more complex for schools. However, they have plans to deal with this. Top of the list is ensuring all students have their own device – 40 percent of respondents cited this. Upgrading wireless networks was another top issue – schools are responsible for connecting their classrooms to the wireless internet. Schools also spoke to the technical issues they face. These include cloud use and security, and network security. A third of respondents say they plan to move data to the cloud in the next year and security concerns them. However, their big security

2019 / Issue 10 4

Kordia and Vocus will both deliver Azure KORDIA AND VOCUS BOTH ExpressRoute cloud services from Microsoft’s new Auckland data centre. The new Albany DELIVER LOCAL AZURE facility means New Zealanders will no longer have to cross the Tasman and use Australia’s EXPRESSROUTE CLOUD SERVICE ExpressRoute site. Microsoft promises predictable performance and low latency for local companies accessing Azure via the new data centre. It says it will effectively extend company networks into the Microsoft cloud over a private connection. New Zealand is one of the world’s fastest evolving digital nations, says Microsoft – one reason it decided to set up an ExpressRoute site here. Cloud computing is growing rapidly. Analyst Gartner predicts 17 percent growth this year, while IDC expects spending on cloud services to have doubled to $2.6 billion a year by 2021. Local business telco Kordia, says the Auckland site will be a boon for its customers who will now have a choice of using either Auckland or Sydney to access the Azure cloud. Having a local facility makes for a very secure, reliable and predictable service, the company says. Vocus, which also offers business communications services, says the new local service will be more responsive and resilient. It will also give users greater control and at a lower cost, it says. Cloud services like Azure are increasingly popular because they allow companies to access a range of applications and computing services so they can more easily build, test and deploy new products and services.

CHORUS Chorus network breaks EXPANDS records over Easter Chorus reports monthly average data use CO-LOCATION hit 216GB in April. Easter Monday was the busiest day, with the network carrying SERVICES almost 12 million GB of data. That’s equal Chorus says it has expanded its to every person in New Zealand streaming EdgeCentre Colocation service to their own Netflix show in high definition. three sites, with more to follow. Traffic peaked on Wednesday, 17 April, The first site began operation at at 9:20pm in the evening, at 1.93 Tbps. Mt Eden in 2016. May saw an Chorus network strategy manager Kurt Avonhead, Christchurch, site open. Rodgers says the school holidays and the Wellington was added in June. Easter break were responsible for the extra Chorus has also added automation demand. “We were expecting April to be a big in the shape of Nlyte Data Centre month, because of Easter and school holidays, Infrastructure Management (DCIM). but it surpassed our expectations as there seems to be no end to how much data people are consuming.”

thedownload.co.nz The Download | In Brief 5

Christchurch Call pledge – UN progress check in October How effective the Christchurch Call and 15 March by a lone gunman. He live- pledge has been in preventing the internet streamed video of the attack. being used as a terror tool will be reviewed New Zealand’s ISPs stepped in early in October. to stop transmission of the gunman’s The United Nations holds its annual video, temporarily shutting down general assembly in October and the issue access to websites hosting the video – an will be discussed during UN Leaders’ unprecedented step for them. Week. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Commenting on the Paris summit, who is spearheading the Christchurch Spark, Vodafone NZ and 2degrees, said initiative with the support of French the best way to eliminate extremist online president Emmanuel Macron, will content was to stop it at source and this discuss what “meaningful progress” needed global co-operation. However, has been made. local ISPs also have a role to play and the The Christchurch Call pledge was three telcos said they would work closely signed by 17 countries and the European with the Government. They called for an Jordan Carter Commission, along with global tech giants “urgent broader discussion” around the INTERNETNZ CHIEF EXECUTIVE Facebook, Google, YouTube, Microsoft censorship issues the Christchurch tragedy and Twitter, at the Tech for Good Summit, raised as well. start of a new phase of co-operation which was held in Paris on 15 May. between governments, social media New Zealand’s three biggest ISPs (Internet ‘CIVIL VOICES’ WILL HELP providers and civil society to counter Service Providers), Spark, Vodafone and Jordan Carter, InternetNZ’s chief terrorism and violent extremism online.” 2degrees, have also signed the pledge. executive, chaired the Paris summit’s InternetNZ will work both at home The Paris meeting was co-hosted by Voices for Action meeting, which heard and internationally to help achieve this, Ardern and Macron. The Christchurch voices from “civil society” who discussed said Carter. Call’s aim is to stop the spread of internet terrorism and how to stop it. The Prime Minister delivered the terrorist and violent material online, “It’s important diverse voices have first words of her opening statement making the world a safer place. The PM’s input into the complex issues being in Paris in Māori, acknowledging the initiative was conceived in the wake of discussed,” he said. memory of the 51 people who died in the Christchurch mosque shooting on “The Christchurch Call must be the “Ōtautahi Christchurch”.

MICROSOFT: BY THE NZ BELOW AVERAGE NUMBERS FOR CYBER-ATTACKS The latest Microsoft Security Intelligence 325GB Report says New Zealand has the lowest AVERAGE MONTHLY DATA USAGE cyber-attack risk of any of the 15 Asia Pacific ON CHORUS’ FIBRE countries it surveyed. Attack rates are 60 percent below the global average and 71 percent lower than the Asia-Pacific average. Fibre now makes up Local Microsoft technology officer Russell Craig, points out that lower risk does not mean 47 PERCENT no risk and warns against complacency. of all of Chorus’ One area of risk singled out for special broadband connections mention was crypto-currency mining. While this is still low in New Zealand, the country ranks at 29 in the world as a destination 110MBPS for crypto-miners. AVERAGE CONNECTION SPEED ON THE CHORUS NETWORK

2019 / Issue 10 6 The Download | Jolie Hodson

Helping people who are always on the run Incoming Spark chief executive, Jolie Hodson, spent the last seven years on the management team that led Telecom, a traditional vertically integrated telecommunications company, as it evolved into Spark, a diverse digital services business. Now she is preparing to take it on the next step of what she sees as a journey, she tells Bill Bennett

olie Hodson says today’s Spark is very organisation. Hodson adds that it is also strong position on 5G.” different from the business she joined now more aware of its purpose. For a while, If there is an over-riding theme to Jin 2013. It even has a different name. after the Chorus de-merger, it was still where Spark’s digital services fit into the Back then, Telecom New Zealand and finding its way in the restructured industry. bigger picture, it is what Hodson describes Chorus had recently de-merged. The Speaking about today’s Spark, Hodson as experiences. She says: “We’re about fibre roll-out was at an early stage and says: “We have a good culture. We’re creating experiences for our customers. smart phones were still at the start of their focused on driving our Agile transformation Yes, they use our networks, but it is the spectacular growth trajectory. She says since [the move to a more team-focused way experience that helps customers, who that time the fibre network has been largely of working]. We’re about nine months nowadays live their lives on the run. Most built and the smart-phone is now ubiquitous. through this transformation. We’ve still work – and life – gets done on a mobile “The organisation has changed. There’s work to do maturing that, but we’re a long device these days.” been a re-set of the culture, the cadence, way ahead of where we were when I first She says connecting customers with and a shift in mind-set from where we were joined the organisation.” digital services means understanding as an organisation. All that was the first Spark’s reboot goes much further them and their needs in ways Spark hasn’t phase of the turnaround,” she says. than establishing a new brand name and done in the past. This isn’t only about “Then there was the re-brand. Re- instilling a different management culture. knowing individual customers. It’s also branding itself doesn’t actually change The business has made a deliberate move about knowing what households and small anything, it’s the things associated with to offer a broad smorgasbord of digital businesses need. it that matter. We moved into new digital services along with its more traditional She says: “We need to know how to services and we switched to being more of telecommunications services. create propositions that are meaningful a retail service provider, where we sold the Hodson says: “We’ve shifted into to them. Part of this means getting our fixed services provided by Chorus.” leading new paths. There’s our premier IT stack in order. The next era will be all

Today, Spark is a leaner, more optimistic Spark Sport service and we’ve taken a about customer intimacy. It’s about how LITTLE KERI PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHOTOGRAPH

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Jolie Hodson 7

"We're about creating experiences... that help customers live their lives on the run. Most work – and life – gets done on a mobile device these days"

Jolie Hodson SPARK CHIEF EXECUTIVE

2019 / Issue 10 8 The Download | Jolie Hodson

we best use data and digital to retain the Spark has added digital services makes a lot of commercial sense is mobile customers that we have. to its portfolio. It is now a retail and wireless. “We already engage with over half of telecommunications business, but that’s She says: “In the fixed world we are a New Zealand. How do we make sure we not the whole story. reseller. We’re still looking to provide a are bringing them the services that meet Hodson says: “We’re a broad digital great experience for our customers, but their needs?” services provider. We are in sports content. there’s no doubt there is a difference in We are in the cloud business.” the margin and the way the economics CONSTANT CHANGE But there’s another side to the work. But that’s the world we have. We Change is a fact of life in the organisation. The industry restructure that have to deal with the hand we’ve been telecommunications sector. Life never saw Chorus de-merge and turn Spark into dealt. We have to focus on what we can do stays still for long. In the time between a fibre retailer left the company’s mobile to influence and change how we serve our Hodson being named Spark’s new chief business intact. In fact, at the time of the customers there.” executive and assuming the role, the de-merger, Spark’s mobile business was One word that hasn’t normally come up local industry structure took another runner-up to Vodafone’s. Today the two in conversations with telecommunications lurch when Infratil acquired Spark’s are on level pegging. companies in the past is sustainability. main rival, Vodafone. Then, a few days Hodson says: “One misconception is She says this is an important part of her later, Swedish private equity firm, EQT that we don’t own infrastructure. We do. vision for the company. Hodson talks Infrastructure, launched a take-over of We own the mobile networks. We own about Spark’s wider contribution to New Zealand’s third largest telco, Vocus the data centres that support our cloud New Zealand. Take digital inclusion, the Communications. That has since fallen businesses. There are a few thousand company plans to break down barriers. through, but a new offer from another kilometres of fibre, as well as a transport “How do we help people who don’t have company has been made, showing just how network throughout the country, and we access to broadband? It is a critical part quickly things can change. own 1300 cell towers.” of contributing to and living in society,” Hodson says: “Vodafone will still be a She also mentions the international she says. strong competitor. The new ownership will cables, some 30-odd exchanges and the Then there is the future of work and lead to a greater focus on New Zealand and large central exchange on Auckland’s skills transference. Hodson says it’s a will see more investment. It hasn’t really Mayoral Drive. focus inside the company but that Spark had the capital to invest in the past.” She says New Zealand needs great hopes to extend that outside the company “Jason [Paris] has been clear about infrastructure. As New Zealand’s largest over time. She says this is in line with the the changes he needs to make to the locally focused telco, Spark needs to make government’s agenda and that of the wider company’s culture, cost base and more. sure it is making the right investment business community. I’ve no doubt the new owners will be choices. The company spends $400 Lastly, she talks about environmental looking for all of this.” million a year on capital investment and all impact. In particular she singles out One expected change that hasn’t of that is spent in New Zealand. reducing energy usage. Hodson says happened is a wave of industry Hodson says Spark will continue to Spark is committed to making a difference consolidation. Hodson says that own infrastructure where it makes for New Zealand beyond a simple economics suggest that the industry should commercial sense. One area where this commercial return.

consolidate over time. She says one reason for this is that many of the players in the market are there for different reasons, and that because of the wholesale market structure, there are now very few barriers to entry. She says she can’t see a trigger for consolidation in the short term. She is philosophical about the constant change. “What we do know about the industry is that it will continue to change. What matters for us in the future is how we engage with our customers. What experiences we provide for them and whether they see value in this.”

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Simon Moutter 9

Turning Spark into a company worth copying

After seven years reshaping and re-branding Spark to thrive in a flatter, more competitive telecommunications market, managing director Simon Moutter is moving on. He talks to Bill Bennett

imon Moutter returned to Telecom decided to move on. A new board had been had been on the back foot for a long time.” in August 2012 after four years appointed and its first job was to find the He says at the time he originally left Sas Auckland Airport’s chief new chief executive. At this point not much Telecom, in 2008, the internal language executive. At the time, the company had been done to reset the organisation as used to describe the best strategy the and the telecommunications sector in a reseller. That became my job. company could employ was “walk general were at an important turning “There had been a lot of change on the backwards slowly”. It was still there in point. The company’s former network board. Only two members had continued 2012. The plans were still predominantly division, Chorus, had recently de-merged from the old Telecom board: Kevin Roberts about managing decline. from Telecom, a move that allowed and Murray Horn. The new chair was Mark A lot of Moutter’s early work after Chorus to participate in the Ultra-Fast Verbiest. The board was anxious to get returning to the company involved Broadband project. on with life as a retailer rather than as a shifting to a winner’s mindset. He says: This reset the structure of the industry. It vertically integrated telco.” “As a retailer you have to win every day. meant all fixed service providers, including Although the industry had changed, Retailers live and breathe through being Telecom, would now operate as resellers. Moutter says at this point Telecom hadn’t. the preferred supplier, and therefore being Telecom was no longer an integrated “The culture was still operating like a able to make a sale. player. Above all, the restructure removed vertically integrated infrastructure player. “That takes a winning mindset and a that vestige of its monopoly: Telecom’s The business had been going backwards strong belief in the company. It’s hard to local access copper loop. on most metrics: market share, revenue, sell when you don’t believe. A lot of my Moutter says: “The Telecom I arrived at employee engagement and customer early work was around mindset shifting, in 2012 was operating in a holding pattern. satisfaction measures. It had declined for a letting people understand that we are Paul Reynolds (the former CEO) had decade. I was there; I was part of that. We good, that we can operate like a retailer.

2019 / Issue 10 10 The Download | Simon Moutter

We introduced what we call ‘the retailer’s Moutter identifies five highlights of his view of the community was that it was a rhythm’, which was to move from an time steering Telecom and then Spark. stupid idea and a waste of money. Yet we infrastructure company mindset of looking These are besides the fundamental pressed on and today the Spark brand is at results and responding to issues monthly performance of the business, he says. Top materially better positioned than the old in arrears, to daily reporting and a 24-hour of his list is how the people who were at Telecom brand. response time.” Telecom when he arrived responded to the “And we’ve supported it with a number He says: “I believed we could move challenge of turning the business around. of new brands like Skinny and Lightbox. forward because we had under-performed Most turnarounds start with everyone There are speciality brands like Revera and in mobile for a long time because we were getting thrown out, he says. “I didn’t tip CCL (Computer Concepts Ltd) too. The caught with the wrong technology. We them all out. We managed to bring the company is now a multi-brand business. were on the CDMA path. It was a brilliant vast majority of people who lived through We have a portfolio of really strong brands. technology but it had no global scale. We the turnaround with us. Many were part In 2012, we were Telecom and Gen-i.” were always competing with at least one of that business that wasn’t going well The fourth highlight is the growth of hand behind our back. The world had and had lost its way with New Zealanders. Spark’s digital services business. Moutter gone GSM. says most observers said the odds were “The best decision my predecessor Paul stacked against Spark in this sector. Yet, Reynolds made was to move to HSPA he says, the company has built meaningful (High Speed Packet Access) early on the "As a retailer positions in cloud computing, cyber 800 MHz spectrum band. It was a risky call security, analytics and media streaming. at the time he made it as that could have you have to win Today, these businesses generate $400 become stranded too, but, fortunately, every day. Retailers to $500 million a year. They didn’t exist the 800 MHz band became standard in 2012. spectrum. We were able to mainstream on live and breathe Moutter’s fifth highlight is a little to the global technology.” Moutter says through being the more personal. He says that part of the up to this point Telecom had been losing a early work when Spark was re-setting lot of customers because it didn’t have the preferred supplier" its business was to go looking at other right mobile technology. businesses around the world. Simon Moutter Having the right technology meant “We wanted to understand how they FORMER SPARK MANAGING DIRECTOR Telecom was now on the right track in succeeded in these new territories,” mobile. Moutter says he identified another he says. At the time, the talk among key to the company’s future during his They responded strongly to the leadership, Telecom’s executives was about first months leading it. We had the scale and the desire to deliver on the purpose wondering if anyone would ever want to and the technical capability to make a of the company, which is to help all of come to New Zealand and see what the move into non-telco digital services, he New Zealand win big in a digital world. company achieved. In the last six months, says. “We had a belief we could enter They did an amazing job. That, in turn, around a dozen large companies have the cloud IT business and could build a has encouraged a lot of new talent to join beaten a path to Spark’s headquarters to company that was a specialist in cyber the business.” learn more about its transformation. security and analytics. We knew we could Moutter’s second highlight is Spark’s One other characteristic of Moutter’s get into streaming media. These were return to leadership in mobile. He says time at Spark is how the business has all things we could get our team excited the technology shapes the consumer a renewed focus on New Zealand. He about and realise these were possible view of a telco’s competency, level of says that early on during his time a clear areas for growth.” innovation, and worldliness. He says commitment was made to putting all the Telecom was a very distant second to company’s resources into New Zealand. Vodafone but Spark is now seen as equal This meant divesting itself of its overseas first. This gave the company a lot of its assets and reinvesting the money new-found confidence. here, in technology and building the Brands are another highlight, especially mobile network. the move from Telecom to Spark. A less visible aspect of this was to focus He says: “I have often cited this as the on local hiring. The company deliberately biggest decision I’ve made in my career or moved to either hiring in New Zealand or will make. It was a big call. It was received to hiring overseas New Zealanders wanting with abuse and disbelief. The collective to return home.

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Wi-Fi 6 11 THE END OF THE WI-FI BOTTLENECK Wi-Fi 6 is set to make home – and work – use of Wi-Fi a fast, sweet experience, writes Scott Bartley. We will need it too with device numbers rocketing, especially home IoT devices

i-Fi has changed the way the Wi-Fi standards is released, equipment about overcrowding. Well, consider for a the world communicates. manufacturers are quick to make moment, the impact the coming avalanche WIt’s everywhere. optimistic claims regarding performance. of IoT devices will have. In 2018, the Wi-Fi Alliance (the industry The difference this time around is that Analyst Gartner predicts that during body that sets Wi-Fi standards) estimated Wi-Fi 6 (which is a new name for what 2019 the number of connected “things” the global economic value of Wi-Fi at would otherwise have been called 802.11ax) will rise to 14.2 billion before blowing out nearly US$2 trillion and that more than is making some fundamental changes to to 25 billion by 2021. A decent chunk of the four billion Wi-Fi devices would ship in the way wireless networks operate. IoT market will end up in people’s homes. 2019 alone. And yet, for all its value, Wi-Fi Where previous generations of upgraded Devices such as video door-bells, Apple can be slow, laggy, and, well, not very good Wi-Fi have tended to focus on top-end TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Alexa, sometimes. But that’s been okay, because even fridges, barbeques and washing until recently the speed of the average machines will all want a piece of your internet connection was such that at home home’s Wi-Fi. we didn’t really notice the bottleneck that 'The number of devices Even if you’re not an IoT person, you Wi-Fi was creating. may still have several mobile phones, However, now high-speed gigabit fibre clamouring for a slice a tablet, a laptop, a game console and a connections are capable of sucking data of the limited Wi-Fi Netflix-packing TV all connected to the down faster than Wi-Fi can push it around, internet. The point being that the number current Wi-Fi is looking creakier than ever bandwidth at home is of devices clamouring for a slice of the – particularly when lots of people are using only going to increase' limited Wi-Fi bandwidth at home is only the same network at once. The end result is going to increase. ruined streaming video and woeful online gaming experiences. speed over everything else, Wi-Fi 6 – while PUBLIC WI-FI SET TO BENEFIT Fortunately, this could be changing now also upping those top-end data rates – The same goes for the Wi-Fi at work, the next generation of Wi-Fi has arrived. offers increased capacity, improved power where networks are painstakingly designed It’s called Wi-Fi 6 and it’s going to fix all efficiency and better performance in crowded to try and spread the load of dozens our problems. That’s the plan, anyway. For environments. This is the important bit or even hundreds of users all trying to now, let's just take a look at the promises because many of the troubles current Wi-Fi connect at once. Large commercial Wi- Wi-Fi 6 is making. networks encounter stem from overcrowding. Fi installations stand to gain the most from a fully fledged Wi-Fi 6 roll-out. ARRIVAL OF WI-FI 6 WHY IS WI-FI 6 IMPORTANT? Just ask anyone who has ever tried using Promises of blazing-fast Wi-Fi are nothing You may be sitting at home thinking your the public Wi-Fi at a crowded airport, new. Every time a new, better version of Wi-Fi runs just fine, so why should you care conference or stadium. Congested Wi-Fi

2019 / Issue 10 12 The Download | Wi-Fi 6

networks can be an exercise in frustration, improving the overall experience. This is simultaneously. This is also where Wi-Fi thanks to interminably slow speeds and where increased network capacity through 6’s overall speed improvement is born. dropped connections. With so much Wi-Fi efficiency comes into play. There are many You could be forgiven for thinking this cramming the airwaves, these congestion- parts to this technical improvement, but sounds a lot like an existing technology related problems are what Wi-Fi 6 has perhaps the most important is Orthogonal found in high-end Wi-Fi 5 routers, called been developed to fix. Here’s how it does it. Frequency Division Multi Access (OFDMA). Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output OFDMA is an evolution of an existing (MU-MIMO). It’s not. That’s something REAL WORLD SPEEDS different again. To further confuse matters, Wi-Fi 6 provides a boost in terms of the Wi-Fi 6 also uses MU-MIMO, although outright speed at which it can push data it improves the formula in that Wi-Fi 6 around – it offers a new theoretical single- 'Expect up to devices can transmit simultaneously in stream maximum of 1.2Gbps. (There both directions and over eight concurrent are many ways to conjure theoretical a 30 percent boost streams, instead of just four. maximum speeds). Compare this to Wi-Fi in top-end speed These new efficiencies are brand new 5 (802.11ac) which tops out at around and should make for huge improvements 800Mbps over a single stream. over Wi-Fi 5 in the way data flows around the network, Bear in mind that real world speeds for for Wi-Fi 6' both to and from multiple users. Wi-Fi will always be significantly lower than the “best case scenario” numbers GAMERS REJOICE emblazoned on the box, but, generally technology that allows a radio frequency A pleasant side effect of these new speaking, expect up to a 30 percent boost channel to be split up into sub-channels. efficiencies is that latency is reduced. This in top-end speed over Wi-Fi 5 for Wi-Fi In the Wi-Fi 5 implementation, we see will finally mean gamers can play online 6. In short, it’s quite possible your Wi-Fi data sent from the router to a device in games over Wi-Fi without suffering from network can finally match that gigabit consecutive chunks. Wi-Fi 6 changes game-killing lag spikes when data gets fibre connection. this in two ways. First it divides the stuck in the queue. Intel – a major player Even though Wi-Fi 6 is faster, the gains radio spectrum into even smaller chunks in the Wi-Fi 6 hardware business – set are less about top speeds and more about and, second, it sends these chunks up a gaming booth at this year’s CES

WHAT IS WI-FI 6? Wi-Fi 6 is the new, human-friendly name for what would otherwise be referred to as 802.11ax. This latest generation of Wi-Fi is the natural successor to 802.11ac (now Wi-Fi 5) and, before that, 802.11n (now Wi-Fi 4). While the differences between Wi-Fi 5 and 6 are significantly more than a simple re-brand, the new names have developed as a way of simplifying the alphabet soup names of generations gone by.

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consumer technology trade show, to or tweet. This is called a deterministic new routers, Wi-Fi extenders and devices. demonstrate games over Wi-Fi 6, such is connection, and, combined with OFDMA, While there are already several their confidence in it. plays a major role in making Wi-Fi 6 such a consumer-level Wi-Fi 6 routers in the big improvement over Wi-Fi 5. market (prices range from around $600 for IMPROVED BATTERY LIFE a Netgear Nighthawk AX8 to nearly $900 For battery-powered devices connecting BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE… for an ASUS ROG GT-AX11000), the only over Wi-Fi 6 (phones, tablets etc), battery All this and we haven’t even touched device supporting Wi-Fi 6 at the time of life gets a free boost from something called on improved security, with WPA3; new writing is the Samsung Galaxy S10 mobile “Target Wake Time”. This is the result of beamforming technology (for more phone. This could change at any time. Back some new smarts inside Wi-Fi 6 routers focused radio signals); 1024-QAM (new in January, at CES, Intel said it expected that allow them to more tightly control signal modulation technology) and the Wi-Fi 6 enabled laptops to hit shelves the behaviour of connected devices. A return of 2.4GHz radio spectrum – you’ll from mid-2019. router can decide how much data each need to Google these for a full run-down. Ironically, even though public and device actually needs, then allocate only Sadly, even though Wi-Fi 6 hardware commercial networks stand to gain that amount to the stream. For example, is fully backward compatible with Wi-Fi the most from Wi-Fi 6, thanks to its instead of allocating the same amount 5 and Wi-Fi 4 (meaning existing Wi-Fi considerably better handling of large, of bandwidth regardless of the type of devices will work just fine with a new crowded environments, it’s likely to be traffic it’s dealing with, a Wi-Fi 6 router Wi-Fi 6 router), to take full advantage of some time before all those old public can determine that a 4K Netflix video- Wi-Fi 6 and all the goodness it offers, you Wi-Fi networks get an upgrade. Give it a stream needs more capacity than an email will need to buy all new gear – that means few years.

2019 / Issue 10 A TALE OF TWO SERVICES PROVIDERS – GISBORNE.NET AND WIZWIRELESS Two small service providers – one from the Wairarapa, the other from Gisborne – tell Johanna Egar how they are bringing broadband internet to rural New Zealand. Sometimes being remote is an advantage, particularly when it comes to launching rockets The Download | Rural ISPs 15

GISBORNE.NET – ROCKETS, MARAE AND DIY EQUIPMENT

SERVING THE REMOTE East Cape has funding. It operates 240 solar-powered and farmers use it to run Xero, the online been Gisborne.net’s business for over three towers of varying sizes, from 14-metre steel accounting package. decades. The company serves dozens of towers, sporting several large antennae remote marae. It works closely with Ngāti dishes, to single-panel solar sites that serve HOOKING UP EAST CAPE MARAE Porou, the large iwi perhaps best known just three or four houses. However, it’s the marae that are making for its affiliation with the 28th (Māori) “Gisborne’s east coast is a really difficult the biggest use of this new fast internet battalion. The iwi has 50 marae, 48 of area to serve with all its little valleys and connection, transmitting live video of these now have a robust broadband pockets of communities, rather than big events to iwi members around the country wireless connection. flat regions where you can have one tower and even abroad. “They have teams of But its most prestigious customer is that serves many,” says Brice. people and make really good, professional Rocket Lab. It provides the high-speed Small towers can be sited on hillsides videos. They do a lot of these now, so we fibre and wireless communications that to give line-of-sight, so everyone can be get them to ring a couple of days before, connect the rocket-launch company’s reached. People now enjoy Netflix, but so we can switch the bias around on the Mahia Peninsula site south of Gisborne, they also use the internet for business, says links and have a high upload capacity,” with its Auckland and US headquarters. Brice. They access YouTube for research says Brice. Gisborne.net began life in 1995. This was a year or so before Telecom began rolling out its first internet service, says managing director Ronald Brice. He says Gisborne. net is likely the reason this happened as it showed there was a demand for the internet. Back then, the company leased a 128k ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line from Telecom. It was considered fast at the time and proved prohibitively expensive for customers. It cost eight cents a minute. “Most people couldn’t afford it,” says Brice. “So we looked at alternatives. We got radio towers in from the US and a radio expert. He designed antennae that could go 2 to 3km – they were originally designed to just go around an office, so had about a 50 metre range. Then we built antenna that could go outside – from our office across to the district council.” Once they could network across the street, the company took off, expanding into rural Gisborne. “We now have wireless towers right up the coast,” says Brice. “The network goes up to Cape Runaway, down to Lake Tutira and across to the Waioeke Gorge. We have three and a half thousand customers. We also provide fibre in town, through Chorus’ fibre. We have 400 on fibre in Gisborne. We promote this because wireless has limited capacity and fibre is such a "We have 400 on fibre in Gisborne and we good service.” promote this because wireless has limited Like the Wairarapa’s WIZwireless capacity and fibre is such a good service" (see story on page 17) Gisborne.net is expanding further with the help of RBI2 Ronald Brice

PHOTOGRAPH OF RONALD BRICE BY STRIKE PHOTOGRAPHY STRIKE BY BRICE RONALD OF PHOTOGRAPH (Rural Broadband Initiative phase two) GISBORNE.NET MANAGING DIRECTOR

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While Rocket Lab may be Gisborne.net’s Having proper internet makes a “huge highest profile customer, Ngāti Porou, difference” to rural people, says Brice. along with the district council, are its “Women will say, ‘My kids want the biggest. How the marae use the internet "Up in Pōtaka, internet.’ We want to ditch satellite and get gives Brice a lot of satisfaction. “The whole I saw silver-haired the internet.” community uses it. Up in Pōtaka, I saw Gisborne.net is still quite small. It has silver-haired old ladies with their laptops old ladies with just eight full-time staff and a further eight Facebooking their mokopuna.” their laptops contractors, although these work nearly full- Ngāti Porou is really forward-thinking, time for the company. But there are plans to he adds. “They have rural health clinics Facebooking grow. Brice reckons the company now has with free Wi-Fi. They want to get people their mokopuna" 85 percent of the local market. He wants to to come in – they often don’t until a health increase this and then expand out towards problem is extreme – so they want to make Ronald Brice Napier and Taupo. However, he also wants the environment better. They bring the GISBORNE.NET MANAGING DIRECTOR to stay local and personal. “Once you get kids along, and now they’re occupied.” too far beyond your base that gets difficult.”

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WIZWIRELESS – A WILD RURAL TALE

WIZWIRELESS CHIEF EXECUTIVE Bridget Canning started her Wairarapa high-speed wireless internet company because it was the only way to get decent broadband to the family farm at fiercely wild and windy Castlepoint. The tiny town is 65kms from Masterton and its landmark feature, the 162-metre high Castle Rock, gives you an idea of the difficulties telecoms companies face. Back in 2005, Canning’s job was training Computer Concept accounting software users and she was facing internet issues. “People would have queries after I left the office [in Masterton] and say: ‘Can I send our data to you?’ And I would have to say, ‘sorry, no, we have really poor internet out here at home’.” Canning approached a local ISP (Internet Service Provider) only to be told they would have to pay upfront, then pay a monthly fee for a service that might not work. Frustrated, Canning and her farmer "I’m a rural person myself and that’s where husband decided to connect themselves up – Canning has programming know-how, I want to be – solving their problems. so had the necessary ability. They got 20 We’ve been there. We’ve lived it" neighbours on board, took out a bank loan and then… Bridget Canning “Telecom decided to liven up the WIZWIRELESS CHIEF EXECUTIVE exchange at Tinui. We suddenly had just three customers and all this money we’d 74 sites across the Wairarapa. We could WIZwireless’ towers are nearly all borrowed from the bank against the farm. have done this through cashflow, but the powered by solar and battery. This is not So we decided we should form an internet government help speeded everything only green, but also makes for greater company. We went around and spoke along, says Canning. reliability as the Wairarapa is prone to at Field Days… I would speak to anyone power outages. who would listen to me, and that is how WHEN THERE IS NO LINE-OF-SIGHT WIZwireless can now provide a 25Mbps WIZwireless got started.” A big problem with rural wireless internet service (basic plans are 8–10 Such is the demand the company has broadband is line-of-sight. The Cannings’ Mbps) but a few customers need 100Mbps, “been growing like topsy ever since”. farm in hilly Castlepoint provides a good says Canning. The basic service is more Canning says her earlier home business case study. WIZwireless could have put its than enough to stream Rugby World Cup helped. “I had a data bureau for farmers radio wireless tower on a hill-top, instead it games – Netflix requires 8Mbps, the same and businesses, training people how to use uses the middle hill-range as many houses as the rugby tournament. Outlook and spreadsheets, and developing wouldn’t otherwise have line of sight. The company’s wireless network is little farm applications, like how to move They are close to the river, says Canning, connected to a broadband fibre network stock from one paddock to another.” because in the early days people would get in Masterton, where it is based. It also has It wasn’t long before the local Wairarapa their water direct from the river. two other fibre sites for its big customers, schools came on board too, along with Canning says RBI2 funding has helped and another to provide it with reserve rural businesses and farms. More recently, greatly with making internet access backhaul (data transmission to the WIZwireless secured an RBI2 (Rural available to hard-to-access sites where few public network). Broadband Initiative phase 2) contract and people live. “We couldn’t commercially “We have a few customers on fibre, but this has allowed the company to either build a solar site and all the infrastructure we’re really focused on terrestrial wireless

PHOTOGRAPH OF BRIDGET CANNING BY NICOLA EDMONDS NICOLA BY CANNING BRIDGET OF PHOTOGRAPH upgrade or build new sites. It now has necessary otherwise.” for rural areas,” says Canning. “I’m a rural

2019 / Issue 10 18

person myself and that’s where I want to debt after losing most of her initial be – solving their problems. We’ve been customers is just one example. She seems there. We’ve lived it.” to have thrived in male-dominated industries – farming, computing KEEPING BUSINESS PERSONAL and telecoms. WIZwireless is small – just five staff, plus “I’ve always worked with men around, two more who can be called on when either out on the farm or at Computer necessary. Canning has been putting Concepts. I don’t expect special treatment her mind to growth recently. Until now because I’m a woman, but I don’t expect to she has been committed to not having be looked down upon either.” to travel more than two-and-half hours Canning’s background is in from Masterton, to be able to offer a programming. “I love playing around same-day service. But, Canning says, with computers. I love the development newer customers will come from beyond of the programs and what they can do, the Wairarapa. How do we manage this – and that they become an extension franchises; satellite offices? she asks. Her of your brain,” she says. big concern is: “Will the people we are Her technology enthusiasm, as much going to be working with have the same as WIZwireless’ success, is probably why philosophy of bending over backwards to she recently won the Rural Women help customers?” New Zealand Business Award for However, although she dismisses it, Innovation 2018. It was the latest in a Canning seems to confidently overcome number of accolades Canning and the challenges – being left with a hefty bank company have won.

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GETTING RURAL NZ ONLINE FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP

New Zealanders are already gearing up Further south, in the Wairarapa, here, he says. A big issue is that not for the Rugby World Cup in September. WIZwireless’ customers are already well everyone realises all the games aren’t On the East Cape that often means set up to watch the games as they all going to be on television as previously buying a smart TV. Gisborne.net is in enjoy at least the 8Mbps speed needed. but will be streamed through the demand helping set these up. As the company started life 10 years Spark Sport app. “We didn’t realise it was such a later than Gisborne.net – in 2005 – its However, he says, if people can struggle for a lot of people,” says network speeds were consequently stream Netflix there shouldn’t be a MD Ronald Brice. “We’re in demand higher to begin with. “Our basic plan problem. In fact, Netflix effectively because we’re local and can help them.” is 8 or 10Mbps. So long as you have acted as a trial run. Interest in it The company is so busy it is planning a reliable internet connection, you prompted network operators to to put a newsletter out telling people will be absolutely fine to watch the upgrade so people had the necessary how to set up their new televisions, but games online,” says WIZwireless chief speed to watch Netflix, says Harrison. Brice is pleased. “It’s all new to them, executive Bridget Canning. “We put in a lot of effort to ensure but it’s probably going to push them Nearby, in Palmerston North, our rural users could stream, because into using the internet and email.” Inspire Net is quickly upgrading its when you go from satellite delivery and Brice first realised just how wireless network. With 518 towers a very small data cap, one of the first unconnected many rural people were – the network travels out from things people do is watch video. They at a recent family funeral in Wairoa Palmerston North to Taihape and to jump on YouTube and they also use the when older people kept coming up to Norsewood – it has a big job. RBI2 apps on their smart TVs.” him and asking for help. funding is helping. PrimoWireless doesn’t connect rural “It would be the same in any rural area. Like Gisborne.net, it started out early, users who don’t have line-of-sight, I thought about it and realised the local in 1998, so needs to upgrade 85 of its but farmers have recently been paying providers are really going to be able to towers before August. As some present the company to install small repeater help them achieve what they want.” speeds are pretty low, the company has towers. “These grab the signal from For Gisborne.net, this has included been helicoptering in gear to sites, to our main network and bounce it down boosting network speeds and speed the work up, rather than using its to the house through the little solar- upgrading the company’s towers usual quad bikes. powered tower now on their hill-top,” where necessary with the help of RBI2 explains Harrison. funding. The company has 240 sites, HOOKING UP TARANAKI Having a decent internet connection which deliver speeds from a low 2 – Taranaki next door is home to the three helps them run the farm. Watching 4Mbps up to 100Mbps. The slower All Black Barrett brothers, so there is the Rugby World Cup will be the icing speeds are often delivered by small a big interest in rugby, says wireless on the cake. But, Harrison says, Spark towers in the most remote areas. operator PrimoWireless’ MD, Matthew needs to educate people that it’s “But we will have everyone on Harrison. Rural areas tend to be quite not just going to be on TV as normal 10Mbps by mid-August in time for the traditional, so ensuring everyone can but will be mainly delivered through rugby,” says Brice. watch the big games is very important its platform.

2019 / Issue 10 crawling the web for that NEIGHBOURLY VIBE

It wasn’t the sort of story you’d expect to emerge from Brooklyn, the middle-class Wellington suburb perched high above the capital, writes Peter Griffin The Download | Online Communities 21

uge scary spider terrorising locals! in the news-feed scrolling, swiping and “It is local crime and safety issues, The headline was pure clickbait, liking that Facebook and Instagram are or council decisions, for example,” she Hbut it didn’t come from the usual engineered for. But it increasingly serves says. “Conversations that have a direct mainstream media suspects. as a popular hyper-local forum for online impact on how we live, feel and celebrate “A humongous spider, of totally communities from one end of the country to our neighbourhoods.” unreasonable proportions, is hanging out in the other. This gels with trends in the United Brooklyn terrorising the locals,” Brooklyn “There are certainly some States, where social platforms for local resident Caroline Donovan wrote in March neighbourhoods with a huge membership. communities like Nextdoor, Citizen, and on the community website Neighbourly, Remuera (in Auckland) for example, has Amazon’s Neighbors have become some of alongside two photos of a saucer-sized almost 7,000 households signed up,” says the most downloaded social media apps in brown spider sitting on the footpath. Neighbourly’s head, Sarah Moore. recent months. “Unearthed by roadworks, it now lurks At home, our Neighbourly is divided on the sidewalk, confronting innocent up by neighbourhoods and with members residents as we walk to work. I have required to use their real names, encountered it two days in a row and I can Neighbourly offers a level of intimacy no longer cope,” continued Donovan, as she and familiarity often foreign to inner-city appealed for a brave neighbour to take the neighbourhoods, where students and crawling arachnid away. transient renters rarely settle long enough to Was it a Huntsman or a funnel-web? get to know each other. What was the best way to pick it up? Where “It has helped untold numbers of people would be a suitable place to re-home it? Two break the ice with their neighbours and the web for that days and over one hundred comments later, those connections have undoubtedly all of these questions had been answered by led to differences being made in our the Neighbourly community. But the saga communities,” says Moore. concluded with a surprise development – Around 900 ‘Neighbourly leads’ the spider was made of plastic. Donovan dotted around the country act as super- and her fellow Brooklyn residents had users on the site, posting prolifically and been pranked. organising events. Such is the quirky charm, good nature “One lead runs a Neighbourly coffee and occasional practical usefulness of "The [Neighbourly] catch-up at her local cafe,” says Moore. Neighbourly.co.nz, which in March “It’s so popular the whole cafe is filled NEIGHBOURLY became the second biggest “online site is increasingly with people and the cafe sometimes member community” in New Zealand becoming a place for provides the coffee for free.” behind Facebook, with 730,000 address- Neighbourly has automated systems to verified members. grittier discussions… flag objectionable material posted on the Of the top 10 websites in New Zealand, local crime and safety site, but Moore says the most “significant as ranked by web analyst SimilarWeb, layer” of content moderation is its Member six host sizeable online communities of issues or council Experience Team. some kind – Facebook, YouTube, Trade decisions" “This team takes action quickly when VIBE Me, Wikipedia, Instagram and Stuff. The something appears on its radar. A quick latter owns Neighbourly and is one of the Sarah Moore response time is important to us – and it few mainstream news outlets still running HEAD OF NEIGHBOURLY shows our members that they, and their comments beneath its stories. feedback, are important too,” she says. Social media is big business – Facebook “It’s a big suburb. Ultimately, we like to This personal touch is an advantage local had net income of over US$22 billion last look at the number of members versus the online communities have over Facebook year. But, while Silicon Valley behemoths number of addresses in the area. Te Kowhai and other major social media platforms. dominate in sheer traffic, a number of in Hamilton, for example, has 76 percent These use automated content moderation players are providing an online community of the suburb’s households signed up to to a greater degree and offer limited human service with a distinctly Kiwi feel. the website.” customer support to New Zealand users. They are also paying increasing attention They log into Neighbourly to search Government departments to suppressing hate speech and abusive for a babysitter, complain about potholes spend tens of millions of behaviour on their platforms. The 15 March or leaking fire hydrants, or to report dollars advertising mosque killings and Prime Minister Jacinda missing pets. on Facebook Ardern’s “Christchurch Call” to fight the But Moore, who joined Neighbourly in each year. spread of extremism online has spurred 2013 as the start-up’s first employee without But the them into doing their bit. a software development background, says likes of Neighbourly, ranked at 124 by the site is increasingly becoming a place for ACC and SimilarWeb, doesn’t compel users to engage “grittier discussions”. Housing

2019 / Issue 10 22

New Zealand, local authorities and because of this change in sentiment.” emergency services have been quick to see However, the weight of numbers is the potential of an engaged audience with with Facebook when it comes to online local matters on its mind. The majority of communities. Pick an area of interest, a councils now post updates on Neighbourly, niche or broad one, and someone will have and New Zealand Police and St John taken the easy step of starting a Facebook Ambulance use it to convey targeted page or group to facilitate discussion. hyper-local information to residents. Facebook claims 400 million users are Neighbourly’s earnings aren’t separated actively engaged in its groups each month. out from those of Stuff, but Moore says If you are setting out to backpack your the site is profitable. It makes money from way around our beautiful country, you running promoted posts and premium would be foolish not to join ‘New Zealand business listings and has large sponsors in Backpackers’. The 73,000-member AMI and Resene. Facebook group is devoted to helping Stuff first invested in Neighbourly in 2014 travellers enjoy the best backpacking in a bid to find new streams of revenue to experience possible. address declining newspaper circulation "It has helped The Kahu Rugby and World Sports and advertising. This became more untold numbers Facebook group has nearly 104,000 urgent when a proposed merger with rival members and is currently buzzing with publisher, NZME, was turned down by the of people break discussion around the build up to the Commerce Commission. Stuff acquired 100 the ice with their Rugby World Cup, which kicks off in Japan percent of the Neighbourly site in 2017 and neighbours, and in September. has integrated its news operation into it. Stuff journalists post stories and chat with those connections GREYHOUND LOVE locals on the site, and 380,000 Neighbourly have undoubtedly When Pat Pilcher’s pet greyhound, users have their Stuff community Bomber, died suddenly from cancer in newspaper emailed to them via the site. led to differences 2016, the Wellington writer vowed to help being made in our other greyhound owners struggling with TRADE ME DISCUSSIONS their own dogs’ health afflictions. STILL THRIVING communities" He started the Facebook group ‘The Trade Me’s long-standing message board Greyhound Health Repository’, which now Sarah Moore continues to host thriving discussions after HEAD OF NEIGHBOURLY has around 700 members. He is also the nearly 20 years, although spokesman Paul administrator for another group that hosts Ford says the volume of posts has waned broader-ranging discussions, ‘For the Love with the rise of social media platforms. messages on a wide range of topics are of Greyhounds’, which has 1,300 members. “These global behemoths obviously posted every day – down from 25,000 a day There are doting dog owners pour huge resources into making their in 2009. Message Board posts are not pre- everywhere. But greyhound owners are platforms highly convenient for everyday vetted by moderators, but the community their own special breed, super attentive to interactions,” says Ford. can vote off offensive comments or their dogs’ needs, seeking each other out to On Trade Me’s board “there are some message threads. On a typical day 0.4 share tips and attending hound meet-ups. hardcore posters for sure,” says Ford. percent of messages are removed, “Recently, a greyhound being walked “But overall use is by a relatively small although in the wake of the Christchurch was badly mauled and needed costly proportion of the 800,000 people who terror attacks, posts have been flagged for surgery,” says Pilcher. visit Trade Me on one app or removal more often. “Within a week, $2,246 was raised. another every day.” “The Christchurch attack changed the There’s a lot of support shared, and a lot Around 15,000 public mood,” says Ford. of strong friendships have developed in “We’ve seen that change on the Trade the group.” Me marketplace too, with Confederate For example, owners volunteer their flags, Golliwogs and Jolly money boxes dogs for a blood transfusion and offer receiving a lot more complaints than ever comforting words ahead of a greyhound’s before. We’ve since banned them, partly cataract operation.

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Online Communities 23

Pilcher and his fellow administrators have formulated some simple principles for the greyhound forums to keep the tone of discussion civil and constructive. “We don’t discourage debate, but we do Where the ask that issues rather than personalities are argued,” says Pilcher. geeks gather “We experience very little grief, which I find quite amazing given how many people are in the group.” If you are looking for a local spin on all things Across the hundreds of millions of tech-related, there’s one online community you Facebook groups and pages active on the can’t pass up – Geekzone global site, administrators and content moderators make their own judgement calls in an attempt to self-police what Created in 2003 by Brazilian tech to automatically notify moderators amounts to the largest online community consultant Mauricio Frietas, the of suspicious activity. in the world. site gained a following in the Telecoms providers and consumer Last year, Facebook tweaked its nascent days of broadband and tech companies know how trusted algorithms to reduce the reach of traffic from mobile phone networks, helping and influential the site is, so deploy pages owned by businesses. Instead it now tech enthusiasts cut through the staff to the forums to offer technical prioritises posts from friends and family. It marketing hype and technical jargon. assistance and customer support. has also elevated the status of groups. In its first year, its message forums “Our local meetups are sponsored “Research shows that strengthening our hosted 638 discussion topics and by those telcos, who then have a relationships improves our wellbeing and garnered 3,000 replies. Now the site chance to talk directly to users and happiness,” explained Facebook founder has around 175,000 discussions and find out more about their use cases Mark Zuckerberg. over 2.2 million replies. It attracts and needs and wants,” says Freitas, The move led to big name brands 300,000 active users each month. who these days oversees Geekzone embracing groups as a way to engage The site’s users frequent as a side hustle to his day job in customers without having to invest vast Facebook, Reddit and other social digital marketing. sums in Facebook advertising just to give media sites as well, says Freitas, “It’s a good feedback loop,” their content visibility. This saw some but they stay loyal to Geekzone he says. discussions shift to a private group setting. (SimilarWeb rank: 376). This trend will continue as Facebook “They trust each other pivots again to emphasise privacy and the platform, and and boost use of its messaging apps, they all have different Facebook Messenger, Instagram and tech interests that WhatsApp. These will be encrypted and are well discussed in made interoperable. the forums.” It could be seen as a move by Volunteer moderators Facebook to free itself from the hassle police Geekzone’s Forum and expense of trying to keep tabs on Usage Guidelines, and billions of conversations. But Facebook automated measures are won’t abandon groups and pages. The used to deal with spam. advertising targeted at people logging on Freitas also plans to install to the platform is too lucrative to allow this. an automated post- “Facebook isn’t perfect,” admits Pilcher. scoring system based “But, while the Christchurch massacre on Google’s Perspective dominated media coverage of social API (application Mauricio Frietas media, there are still a huge number of programming interface) CREATOR OF GEEKZONE Facebook groups like ours that are making a real difference in the background.”

2019 / Issue 10 Paperless NCEA exams coming to a school near you NZQA is concerned about both sides of the digital divide as it allows more exams to be taken online, reports Sarah Putt. Lower decile schools, whose students have few tech resources, still prefer paper exams, but tech-savvy students find online exams more convenient

f you were to submit a hand-written stages over the next few years,” she says. work to be done to deliver a good exam proposal to your boss, or if I were to They will be direct substitutes for the paper experience where graphing, equations and Iscribble this article down in pencil versions and will evolve over time in line formulae are required,” says Gray. and post it to the editor, it’s unlikely either with classroom teaching and learning, and When sitting paper exams, the most would accept it. We have become used to broader assessment practice. a student has to guard against is a blunt neatly typed, spell-checked documents Since 2016, 22,405 students from pencil or a pen running dry. So, how arriving in our inbox. So, why expect today’s 203 schools (about 40 percent of all high does NZQA cater for outages and other teenagers – the most connected generation schools) have taken part in at least one technical difficulties that could occur when ever – to sit exams with a pen and paper, digital exam trial. This year, NZQA will an exam is sat digitally? rather than using an electronic device? offer 14 subjects digitally, across NCEA “Technical problems could relate This is the reasoning behind the levels 1, 2 and 3, with the range of subjects to a power or network outage, or a New Zealand Qualifications Authority expanding in coming years. Schools student’s device failing during an exam. (NZQA) allowing more critical secondary don’t have to take part, and students in Whatever the reason, students will not be school exams – NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 participating schools can choose either disadvantaged, and schools can apply for a – to be taken online. As NZQA’s deputy- the digital or paper option. derived or emergency grade,” says Gray. chief executive for digital assessment This year’s online exams will be in “Exam-centre managers are experienced transformation, Andrea Gray, explains: various arts, language and vocational in managing issues that may occur during “The way students sit NCEA exams is subjects where exams are text-based. Last an exam. If an outage is minor, students changing from hand-written papers to year, NZQA trialled a Level 1 science paper may get extra time to complete their digital sitting assessments online. This reflects that didn’t count towards the student’s exam. If an outage is major, students may the way students learn and use devices final grade. Results were mixed. “While need to continue their exam using paper. every day, and better equips them for students preferred typing to writing and “All the digital exams in 2019 will be contemporary life and work.” liked some of the video and animation electronic copies of the paper ones. The

“Digital exams are being introduced in features, NZQA recognises there is more same resources and questions will be NZQA BY SUPPLIED PHOTOGRAPHY

thedownload.co.nz The Download | NZQA Exams 25

presented to students completing either “Access to digital technology does vary needs to reflect the way schools teach and the paper or electronic exams. Students across communities in New Zealand. We students learn, and this is increasingly need to demonstrate the same knowledge know that almost all schools have some digital,” says Gray. and skills whether they complete a paper or teaching, learning and internal assessment This cautious approach has found digital exam. that is happening online,” says Gray. favour with the Post Primary Teachers As in previous years, in 2019, all students “School boards of trustees decide what Association, which represents secondary entered for a digital exam will have a devices their schools use; when and how school teachers. President Jack Boyle says it personalised paper available as a back-up.” they use them, and who owns them. Some supports NZQA’s digital programme. In the trials, about 10 percent of students schools buy class sets of devices; others run “NZQA recognises that where learning who started their exam digitally switched bring-your-own-device programmes, and is not happening in a digital environment, to paper during the exam. Gray says many others work with local trusts to establish students would be disadvantaged by digital schools separate the digital and paper affordable lease-to-buy arrangements. exams. However, equally, where students exam candidates to reduce any disturbance are learning in a digital environment then from those taking the exam digitally. they are likely to be disadvantaged by There appears to be little difference having to sit a paper-based exam,” he says. in results between those opting for the "Where students are “Many schools have participated in the digital or paper version of an exam. learning in a digital trials and it has given them a chance to “There is no conclusive evidence of a see how the process could work. However, difference between the two formats of the environment then concerns have been raised where a assessment,” says Gray. they are likely to school doesn’t have the infrastructure or Apparently, having access to digital technology to support a digital learning tools such as spell-checker during an exam be disadvantaged environment, particularly when there is the doesn’t help. “Students undertaking exams by having to sit a extra pressure of high-stakes assessment.” are not assessed for their spelling, whether New Zealand is not alone in offering their answers are written on paper or on a paper-based exam" digital exams. NZQA says Australia, Israel, PC. Students still need to determine the Jack Boyle Finland, Chile and Sweden are all exploring correct spelling from options offered by the POST PRIMARY TEACHERS online exam options. Although, Gray says, spell-check function,” she says. ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT each country has a differing approach. “Spell-check can be helpful for some As for the day when all exams are online, students with specific learning difficulties “We recognise some students will be at and pens, calculators, spare batteries, who might otherwise need to apply for a different stages in their digital learning, so pencils, erasers and sharpeners are finally special assessment condition.” will continue to offer paper-based exams as banished from the exam room, Gray As for cheating, the digital exams are set schools transition to digital education.” couldn’t say. up so students can’t access the internet or Offering a dual system (paper and “There is no specific time-frame for other information. “Text can’t be copied digital) costs more, but this will change removing NCEA paper-based assessment. from outside the exam browser window. as digital exams become more common. Schools are at different stages in their If a student navigates outside their exam “While cost-effectiveness is critical, approach to digital teaching and learning, window, they, and their supervisor, will reducing the cost of running the current and digital assessment needs to be in sync receive a warning. They will be locked out exam processes is not a driver – assessment with that.” of the exam if they continue,” says Gray. Security has been a key component in designing the system supporting digital exams. Gray says the platform provider has “international experience in delivering highly secure systems.”

DIGITAL DIVIDE A BIG ISSUE The “digital divide” issue, with some students not having access to electronic devices outside of school and so perhaps not being confident undertaking online assessment, is likely to become more pressing as digital exams become more common. A breakdown of the schools that have taken part in the trials since 2016 show the majority of those participating are decile 4-7, with far fewer decile 1-3 schools taking part.

2019 / Issue 10 26

DO WE REALLY NEED 8K TELEVISION?

8K televisions are he latest buzzword in televisions is What’s so good about 8K? Well, it will 8K. As with most tech, the bigger look better. already available, but Tnumber always sounds the more Because an 8K television has a higher enticing. But what is 8K? And, coming pixel density, it can produce a much how necessary are they, so soon after 4K, do we really need to more detailed image than 4K. This also asks Hadyn Green? upgrade to it? means individual pixels become almost Basically, 8K refers to screen resolution. impossible to see with the naked eye. What benefits do such Resolution is the number of pixels on your Having more pixels means you can super-high resolution screen, and 8K is an abbreviation used to spread them over a larger surface without keep things simple. losing picture quality too. So, 8K televisions televisions bring? It describes a minimum resolution can be much larger than 4K and still look of 7680 pixels horizontally by 4320 amazing without losing fidelity. vertically. This means 8K has twice the What this means in practice is that number of pixels on each axis compared where you may now have had a 42-inch with 4K. Note that 4K was dubbed Ultra- 4K television in your home, you could High Definition (UHD) so, because of comfortably view a 65-inch 8K television this, 8K is sometimes called UHD-2. (assuming you have the space).

thedownload.co.nz The Download | 8K TV 27

Much like 4K, 8K televisions will upscale FANCY CABLES NOW WORTH BUYING most of their content. This will be good for 4K and full HD content on Blu-ray or HDMI 2.1 MASTERING ORIGINALS delivered via streaming sites over fibre, but For years we have been advised not Not all content is created equal. How it won’t work so well with lower resolution to shell out for “fancy” HDMI (High- good your content looks can often media, especially broadcast television. definition Multi-media Interface) come down to how it was mastered. While the television will do its best to cables, but now with high-dynamic Mastering is the process of recording increase the detail in an image, this process range (HDR) and 8K televisions from the original source. When it may also exacerbate mistakes, leading to entering the market, it may be time to comes to a movie, this can be from blotchy, granular pictures. This is a trait finally upgrade. HDMI cables are the the original film stock or, in recent 4K televisions suffer from as well and more standard for connecting any device to years, digital capture. Basically, so on streaming media, where the signal is your television and most of them are the higher the master resolution, heavily compressed. 2.0 versions. the better the content will look on The new HDMI 2.1 cables have a bigger screens. DO YOU NEED 8K? maximum transfer speed of 48Gbps, For various reasons, content is The short answer is: no. The longer which is high enough to show 10K not always mastered at the highest answer is: not right now. images at frame rates as high as possible resolution. Often movies While there is an element of future- 120Hz. They can also allow dynamic shot using digital cameras, rather than proofing in getting an 8K television, there HDR (which can change from frame celluloid film, are mastered at 2K (full simply isn’t any content to watch in 8K to frame). You still shouldn’t sign your HD) rather than 4K. This results in the right now. In fact, little content is available life away to buy them though, as they strange situation where older films in 4K yet. can be picked up for roughly the same can look better at higher resolutions Then you have the issue of what price as the old 2.0 cables. than newer films. For example, the you would use to watch the content. action movie Deadpool is mastered Game consoles like the Xbox One X NATIVE RESOLUTION in 4K, but the sequel, Deadpool 2, is and PlayStation 4 Pro still only have a Every screen, from televisions to mastered in 2K. maximum output of 4K (3840 pixels phones, has a “native” resolution. This A few movies could be remastered – the horizontal measure, which is how is the resolution where no changes in 8K, but, in general, these are older 4K is measured). Dedicated UHD are required by the technology behind films without digital special effects. Blu-ray players are the same, as is the the screen to change the picture. But latest Apple TV. because content is shot in a variety of This leaves smart television apps as the formats, what you are watching may only avenue for getting 8K content, and be subtly tweaked to fit your screen. even then you are out of luck. Streaming and pay-per-view video services still have the majority of their content in HD. They only began adding 4K content in the last few years. Nothing is available in 8K so far. And, if they did have 8K content, you would chew through your data watching it. For example, Netflix recommends a steady internet connection speed of 8K ULTRA HD 25Mbps to watch content in 4K. This is roughly 11.5GB per hour or 24GB for a normal-length movie. 8K is a minimum of four times the size of 4K, so you would be looking at a 96GB movie and a steady connection speed of approximately 215Mbps. This means you need a fast fibre 4K ULTRA HD connection with a high data cap and a very good router. So, what you will be watching mostly on your 8K television is upscaled UHD FULL HD content. Which will look amazing, but would also look amazing on a 4K television. SD

20192018 / / Issue Issue 10 7 In whom we trust Customers will soon buy their internet services from ‘trusted brands’ rather than traditional telcos, reports Heather Wright. Devoli aims to be the engine powering the brands’ services

Karl Rosnell, Devoli chief executive The Download | Devoli 29

n Karl Rosnell’s world if you have a APIs (application program interfaces). services with the broadband network as it trusted brand and loyal customer base, In Rosnell’s words: “We automate the rolls out. Iyou have the makings of a service processes involved to within an inch of “Any company that has a brand and a provider business – and a new way to their being.” loyal subscriber base, with the ability to increase stickiness and add revenue. Using “devilishly clever automation”, talk to customers and have that message Rosnell, CEO of Auckland-based Devoli can provision the services of any of read with a pretty high degree of accuracy, network automation and service provider the local fibre companies. now has the ability to bolt this service into Devoli, sees a future where customers “Our customers don’t have to buy their product mix.” increasingly buy services such as internet infrastructure, learn tech speak or employ So, what is the process for setting up as a access from “trusted brands” rather than masses of people to set up and run an ISP,” service provider? traditional telcos. he says. According to Rosnell, it’s as simple as “People are reprioritising where they “The Devoli Engine allows a brand to picking the products you want to sell. In spend their money, based on who they become an ISP, rather than the traditional Stuff Fibre’s case, it chose two offerings – trust,” Rosnell says. “In future, they’re telco/IT companies who have paved the 100Mbps or up to 1Gbps. Copper and voice more likely to spend their ‘internet dollars’ way to date. The brand provides the loyal services can also be added, with brands with brands they trust rather than having a subscriber base and we provide the process, deciding on the bundles and pricing. traditional telco relationship. These brands the network and automation, for a fixed “Then, really, your job is marketing. will already be delivering a far higher level cost per subscriber and no upfront cost.” “We want you to tell your loyal followers of value, and the broadband piece will As well as adding relevance to their that you’re now an internet provider and/ become an attached component to deepen business, Rosnell believes this enables or voice provider and you have this offering the value proposition.” brands to take a leadership role – and for $x a month, and here’s how easy it is to He cites Devoli customer, Stuff Fibre, as experience all the associated warm sign up.” an example. Devoli can handle the billing and service Customers get to purchase from a brand desk, or send a billing feed that maps into they know, trust and, dare we say it, enjoy the brand’s existing billing feed, and train dealing with (plus a single bill), while brands "We automate the the brand’s internal support team on FAQs become stickier by providing more services, processes involved and the processes the team needs to follow. so reducing churn on traditional products. “We have a model that is complete, but Rosnell says it’s a massive “net new” to within an inch of also has elements where if you want to own opportunity. The Ministry of Business, their being" the billing relationship, or support it, you Innovation and Enterprise’s last can. It’s highly bespoke or highly shrink- Broadband Deployment Update, covering Karl Rosnell wrapped, depending on what bits you the quarter to the end of December 2018, DEVOLI CHIEF EXECUTIVE want to control.” showed there were now 714,258 users So, how many customers do you need to connected to the Ultra-Fast Broadband fuzzies – in reducing the frustration around make it viable? Rosnell is cagey on exact network, and uptake was at 50 percent – broadband connections. costs, but claims the platform is workable, leaving an equal number still to connect. With the automated provisioning and provides a clean margin from the and management across all Kiwi fibre first customer. COMPLEX TO NAVIGATE companies, Rosnell says using the Devoli “Every time you add a new customer But the telco game is highly technical and engine means there is no delay in receiving you make a bit more revenue, a bit complex to navigate. There is capacity or processing orders. Customer orders are more margin.” planning, supplier management, backhaul processed in real time as they are entered It’s not just brands Devoli is targeting. and a myriad of other issues to consider. into the website. The highly competitive market, with Devoli though, has what it believes is It isn’t completely bullet-proof, of downward pressure on pricing combined the solution to enable brands, and ISPs, to course. He admits there are bits outside with increasing demand for unlimited outsource the heavy lifting. Devoli’s control – if end-user customers plans, mean the ROI (return on The company, previously Vibe pick an install date and aren’t there to let investment) on running your own network Communications, has flipped a portal the fibre provider in, or if the fibre person can be “murky”, says Rosnell. it created to provide self-service for doesn’t turn up, for example. “Any ISP that has fewer than 10,000 its traditional business-to-business “These two things are outside our subscribers is going to find it difficult customers, making it consumer facing and control. Everything in between is 100 to make money when the real costs of opening up a new market – the residential percent up to us. We connect the end-user delivery are measured. ISP segment. Increasingly, it is the engine customer directly to the fibre provider and “It’s the combination of the physical underlying other brands’ offerings. ensure the level of transfer of information costs of employing and managing people, The Devoli engine takes the technical is highly reliable and transparent.” coupled with the intangible costs of missed difficulty of being an ISP and wraps it in Rosnell says the company is being opportunity, when these people are tied an “elegant” user interface, combined approached by a range of non-traditional up and therefore unavailable for higher

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBIN HODGKINSON ROBIN BY PHOTOGRAPH with business processes and consumable players keen to bundle their products and value tasks.”

2019 / Issue 10 Imagining the

Super-fast broadband running at speeds of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) is coming soon. Nielsen’s Law predicted this and New Zealanders are on track to enjoy it soon, reports Johanna Egar. For the first time, we are ahead of Nielsen’s predictions, with the promise of extraordinary consumer and business applications to come The Download | Nielsen's Law 31

ibre broadband delivers light speed every two years. Jakob Nielsen developed But, first, a little background – Nielsen connectivity. This gets people his telecommunications law in 1998 and predicted an internet speed of 100Mbps Fexcited, but it will be the boring similarly it has accurately predicted big in 2011. This is when Chorus’ Ultra-Fast applications that will take it to the next increases in internet speed over the past Broadband programme started. He level, says Craig Young, CEO of the 20 years (see diagram). predicted 1Gbps by 2016. This is when we Telecommunications Users Association Over most of this time, New Zealand got ahead for the first time with the launch of New Zealand. has struggled to keep up with Nielsen’s of Dunedin’s Gigatown – in 2014. “This is where the killer app will come predictions, but fibre has changed this. Nielsen’s Law predicts 10Gbps by 2022. from. It will be logistics and driverless We are now, for the first time, getting Chorus is already trialling technology trucks and trains, and driver assist, rather ahead of his predictions and of demand which delivers this and looking to make than driverless cars,” says Young. too. The big question now is: what will it available in the coming months. Lastly, He sees truck drivers benefiting from the we do with all this increased speed his Law predicts speeds of 1Tbps by 2031 kind of software assistance pilots already and capacity? – which shows just how much potential enjoy. An on-board computer might tell fibre networks have. We are well on track you that you’re not driving to the wet to reach this. Ten years ago, the UFB goal weather conditions, or that there is oil on was 100Mbps and today we are looking at the road ahead, he says. Pilots already a 10Gbps service – 100 times that. get this kind of help – being told cross- winds at Wellington airport make it is too HOLOCHESS AND REMOTE ROBOT dangerous to land, for example. HEART SURGERY Young also foresees immersive video- We are on track to have 87 percent of our conferencing that will allow for proper population on fibre by 2022, so the time teleworking, and also reduce our carbon is ripe to consider what we might do with footprint as people commute less. super-fast speeds. Our fibre broadband network already The greatly increased speed of our delivers 1Gbps to many people, and now fibre network will make a host of new 10Gbps is being trialled. Which is where applications possible, including some we Nielsen’s Law comes in. It’s like Moore’s haven’t imagined. Some will be exciting, Law but for telecommunications. others more down-to-earth but just Gordon Moore updated his law in 1975 as important. Craig Young and it accurately predicted that computers’ CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS Among the latter, says TUANZ’s Young, overall processing power will double USERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND could be remote operations carried out by robots. He gives the example of an Auckland heart surgeon operating on a West Coast patient with robotic help. 1 TBIT/S “There is going to be a shift in healthcare 100 GBIT/S we haven’t predicted yet. For example, how do you make the most of your expert 10 GBIT/S surgeons? In a country like New Zealand,

1 GBIT/S where we can’t afford as many specialist heart surgeons as we need, if you could 100 MBIT/S use robot surgery, you could utilise your experts at a distance. 10 MBIT/S “For this you’re going to need the fast 1 MBIT/S rates of data transfer that fibre can provide. And as robot surgery becomes more 100 KBIT/S specialised, which is happening, there will

10 KBIT/S be more and more data being transferred.” Young suggests the remote West Coast 1 KBIT/S as one place in New Zealand where such

100 BIT/S robot surgery would be a boon, but the North Island’s remote East Cape would Internet Connection Speed (bits per second) 10 BIT/S benefit equally. However, what grabs people’s 1 BIT/S imagination most is consumer use of high-speed fibre. Science fiction provides 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 2031 2035 2039 some ideas. Chorus’ network strategy Year

2019 / Issue 10 32 The Download | Nielsen's Law

“Use follows technology development. It created the hugely popular online game Which is why when people say you Path of Exile, but its skilful team is an shouldn’t overbuild the network they’re exception, says Cushen. We have a dire talking poppycock.” technical skill shortage we must address if “The fibre companies are now trialling we are to realise fibre’s potential, he says. 10Gbps – that’s 10 times the speed of We can also create jobs if we foster technical what’s available today. We’re building a eco-systems like that in West Auckland. world-class network and the connectivity Grinding Gears now employs over 100 possible is incredible. Applications we programmers, artists and support staff. haven’t imagined will appear for our “The wealth of bandwidth is not the entertainment and enjoyment.” issue. It’s realising the potential that is Cushen thinks 8K TV will be the first the challenge. We need to think more killer app, but he looks beyond this to holistically about how we might use it. I online education and to the world of reckon we could use it all and then some.” games. He sees prestigious universities Kurt Rodgers CHORUS’ NETWORK STRATEGY MANAGER like Harvard and Oxford delivering their BUSINESS APPLICATIONS AND courses around the world, using the much REMOTE 3D PRINTING manager, Kurt Rodgers, a sci-fi fan, likes greater internet capacity to create truly Exciting consumer applications may win the idea of playing holochess. Like many desirable educational experiences. the cool points, says TUANZ’s Young, but fans, he enjoyed watching Chewbacca, When it comes to games, he points to the there are a host of business applications the wookiee, playing holochess using strong games-creation community in West that could make good use of fast bandwidth hologram monster playing pieces with Auckland and Grinding Gears Games. too, including one from science fiction – C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars IV. The games developer began life in a hologrammatic video conferences. Skype Closer to home and today, he says his garage and recently sold for $100 million. and today’s corporate video-conferencing seven-year-old daughter designs her offerings are disappointing, he says. own computer games on her iPad using Young also sees crypto-currency taking downloaded software, an activity unheard off. He thinks this disappoints now because of not long ago. And he points to where we present bandwidth doesn’t allow for might be going, via the examples of Uber, instantaneous transaction updating. He Airbnb and Netflix. is keen on 3D printing too, especially in We are only at the beginning of the the medical area. Files could be sent over road with gigabit, says Rodgers. Energy the internet instructing a 3D printer at technology and computer processing the other end to create complex medical capability are improving rapidly, components, he says. These could then be along with broadband connectivity. used by surgeons operating on patients in “Software is bringing this all together to remote areas. accelerate capability.” But he also thinks there will be uses we “Now if someone has a good idea, like can’t foresee. “Ten years ago, when we Uber or Airbnb or Netflix, they can go had 2G phones, we didn’t imagine we’d from nothing to ruling the universe in a be calling up an Uber or a Zoomy ride and particular sector very quickly. If you’ve got paying for it automatically.” the computing and energy sources, and the Now 5G is on the horizon and the first connectivity, you can do transformational driverless truck has taken to the road. The things very quickly.” "The wealth of Star Wars look-alike T-Pod, developed by bandwidth is not the Sweden’s Enride and its transport logistics’ GAMES PATH SHOWS THE WAY issue. It’s realising the customer DB Schenker, drove legally on a InternetNZ’s director for community public road in May. T-Pod is powered by a outreach and engagement, Andrew potential that is the small local 5G network. But, although 5G Cushen, has an even more specific take on challenge. We need to promises fibre-like speeds, many users will how to use all this speed. And he thinks the have to share its bandwidth. new consumer applications that will use think more holistically While most New Zealanders will have fibre will be as interesting and important as about how we access to fibre by 2022, those outside its the business ones. coverage areas may be able to benefit “People are already using fibre’s might use it" from high speed copper broadband, capability to create their own videos and VDSL. A dedicated connection for your Andrew Cushen artwork and games, and then upload their home, VDSL offers a great experience for INTERNETNZ’S DIRECTOR FOR COMMUNITY creativity to the world,” he says. OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT streaming video.

thedownload.co.nz The Download | Dial Tone 33

Dial Tone Requiem by Bill Bennett

Elderly folk were not keen on fibre when to put it down and start again. Different answering because he or she is annoyed it was first introduced. It turns out they countries, in some cases different phone or may no longer want to be the object of didn’t like the lack of a dial tone. They networks, use different dial tones. Most desire. It’s a metaphor. complained that they couldn’t hear use a single note, although some switch Perhaps it was romance the old folk anything when they picked up a handset. between two. missed when they couldn’t hear a VoIP Modern Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones There was a time when the dial tone was phone dial tone. don’t need a dial tone. The, excuse me, the background music of everyday life. The dial tone is used for another tone-deaf engineering types who first It featured as part of popular music. You metaphor too. A scary one. An entire sub- made these things didn’t think to include it. could create a dial tone Spotify playlist. genre of horror movies feature telephones, If you picked up an early VoIP handset Start with Blondie’s 1978 hit Hanging and, in most cases, a dial tone. you would hear nothing at all. Not on the Telephone. From there you can add The tone can tell you that the person even crickets. songs by The Jam, Electric Light Orchestra, on the other end of the line met a gristly That problem has since been fixed. 10cc, the Buzzcocks, Kraftwerk and death. If a ringing phone is picked up only Phone-makers added a fake dial tone so Depeche Mode. They all had chart hits that to play a dial tone, you know something customers could get that comforting sound. included that distinctive dial-tone sound. bad will happen soon. It turns out all dial tones are, in effect, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, an avant garde Those old folks who can’t get a dial tone fake. It’s not the natural sound that you pop-band, took this further. In Telephone don't know how lucky would hear if you picked up a telephone and Rubber Band the dial tone sounds they are. handset connected to the copper network. throughout almost the entire track. In About 100 years ago, telephone effect, the dial tone is the tune. Bill Bennett is a journalist exchanges began sending dial tone signals The dial tone can be romantic. and broadcaster. He has to phones. The idea is it lets you know the Musicians use the dial tone to indicate spent most of the last exchange is working and waiting for you unrequited love: the object of the singer’s 30 years writing about technology and to make your call. Wait too long and the desires is not there to whisper sweet business. He edits tone changes to an error signal, telling you nothings to. Or perhaps the loved one isn’t The Download

2019 / Issue 10 GENIUS IS ASKING WHY NO ONE HAS DONE THIS BEFORE

SARAH WIXON APPLE STICKER GENIUS

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CHO0179 Downlaod Mag Apple-Sarah FP_v2.indd 1 7/6/19 1:46 pm