Phasing out the old and phasing in the new...

Readers will have noticed I've been "on vacation" for a long time and this blog hasn't been updated. The reason is that the ITU Strategy and Policy Unit is now rolling out its own newslog (RSS feed here) with a broad range of categorization so that individual topics can be subscribed to based on the readers particular interests. As of today, here are the current categories and related RSS feeds but except for the first feed which is Everything [RSS], it's a taxonomic work in progress and still subject to evolution:

• Everything [RSS]
• Africa [RSS]
• Americas [RSS]
• Asia-Pacific [RSS]
• Broadband [RSS]
• Competition Policy [RSS]
• Country Case Studies [RSS]
• Grid Networks [RSS]
• ICT Policy and Develpment [RSS]
• Indicators and Statistics [RSS]
• ITU News [RSS]
• Internet Names and Addresses [RSS]
  • ENUM [RSS]
  • IPv6 [RSS]
  • Internationalized Domain Names [RSS]
• Mesh Networks [RSS]
• Mobile [RSS]
• Open Source [RSS]
• Presentations and Speeches [RSS]
• Publications and Reports [RSS]
• SPAM [RSS]
• Ubiquitous Networks [RSS]
• VOIP [RSS]
• Wireless Networks [RSS]
• Workshops and Symposia [RSS]
• World Summit on the Information Society [RSS]

I'll try and migrate some of the more interesting content over when ever I find the time but for now it's goodbye to the old and hello to the new as the Strategy and Policy Unit migrates to a new local Radio Community Server.

9:14:30 PM    Google It!    

EC's Objectives for WSIS

9:54:46 PM    Google It!    

J.202: ITU's Java-based standard for interactive TV

The Age has an article on ITU's new Java-based standard for interactive TV, J.202 from ITU-T Study Group 9. See this earlier piece: ITU Approves Standard on Interactive TV.

7:11:06 AM    Google It!    

Open Source ITU-T H.264

Further to ITU-T H.264: Superior Video Codec Coming, it's nice to run across an open source H.264 project on SourceForge.net.

5:10:37 PM    Google It!    

ITU Approves Standard on Interactive TV

ITU Opens Up World for Interactive TV Providers. The International Telecommunication Union announces the approval of a new standard that allows content providers to roll out value-added interactive TV (iTV) services to any network without modification. The standard (Recommendation ITU-T J.202) defines the interfaces that designers use to produce content (Application Programming Interfaces — API) and gives guidelines for their use. It has the backing of the broadcast industry as well as key manufacturers of TV equipment and set-top boxes. ITU-T J.202 consolidates the work of other standards makers illustrating ITU-T’s position as the pre-eminent body for coordination of Information Communication Technology (ICT) standards. J.202 was standardized in ITU-T Study Group 9. The standard consolidates efforts from the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), and Open Cable Applications Platform (OCAP).

5:52:05 PM    Google It!    

Daum: Korea's Top Web Portal

The Republic of Korea has the highest broadband penetration in the world (see page 6 of this recent report issued by ITU (PDF)). The corresponding ITU country case study discusses Daum, Korea’s top portal web site. Some 90 per cent of all Korean Internet users log onto Daum. Around 450 million pages of Daum’s content is viewed on an average day ranking it as one of the top Intenet portals in both pages per user and session time in the world.

12:11:32 PM    Google It!    

Promoting Broadband Networks

The ITU is hosting a workshop this week on the different strategies used by ITU Member States, at both local and national levels, for promoting the deployment and use of broadband networks. The key research question is why some economies have been more successful than others and whether this success can be replicated. In preparation for the workshop, the ITU Strategy and Policy Unit has now posted its workshop background paper (PDF, Word) as well as Country Case Studies for Canada (PDF, Word), Iceland (PDF, Word), Japan (PDF. Word), Republic of Korea (PDF) and Hong Kong, China (PDF).

12:55:36 PM    Google It!    

ITU-T H.264: Superior Video Codec Coming

At the next meeting of ITU-T Study Group 16, an important high-performance video encoding/decoding standard is likely to be approved, entitled Recommendation H.264, "Advanced Video Coding for Generic Audiovisual Services". H.264 is the result of work by the Joint Video Team (JVT) which combined the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). This article in vnunet.com discusses a possible application of the emerging standard, which includes videoconferencing, digital storage media, television broadcasting, and Internet streaming (also see this earlier vnunet.com article and CNET article. H.264 can deliver the same quality as MPEG-2 (e.g. used in DVD players) but with much less bandwidth.

2:17:45 PM    Google It!    

ITU Overview and ENUM Presentation

Here's the presentation (PowerPoint, PDF) I made last week to the GAC at the Rio de Janiero ICANN meeting. It gives an overview of the ITU, changes in the telecom sector, its impact on the ITU, and ITU's activities related to IP-based networks and the Internet. I also made a presentation on ITU's perspectives on ENUM (Powerpoint, PDF) in an open ICANN session.

9:58:36 AM    Google It!    

ITU brings Gigabit to your doorstep: all optical networks a step closer

ITU Press Release: Two new standards from ITU will allow service-providers to offer a raft of new services. In its capacity as world leader in optical network standards, ITU has agreed today on protocols for Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (G-PONs) that are a further step towards all-optical networks. The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector lead study group on optical technology is ITU-T Study Group 15.

1:50:38 PM    Google It!