Are you a DNS guru?

I'm doing some research on DNS evolution and would like to understand how (or if)  DNS is changing within mobile carrier networks.   If you work for a mobile carrier and can answer the following questions, you are a DNS guru and I want to hear from you!   My questions:

1. What DNS solution do you use today?
2. What do you use to manage and monitor DNS (e.g., CLI, 3rd party GUI tool, homegrown tool)?
3. Do you currently plan to protect the DNS with any external security mechanisms such as IDS, firewall, DPI, etc.?
4. Do you expect the deployment of 4G/LTE networks to impact your DNS architecture in any way?
5. Will DNS take on the same, more or less importance within your 4G network?  Please explain.
6. How important is a day-to-day management interface vs. CLI or some other programmatic interface?
7. Who in your organization manages your DNS servers (e.g., System Admin, DNS specialist, Operations Manager)?
8. Overall in regards to your network, what you keeps you awake at night?

 Thank you for providing your insights!

Cisco's Flip Flop

Cisco's announcement that they would exit the Flip Video consumer business was a surprise to many, in particular a consumer base of loyal Flip fans. It wasn't that much of a surprise, however, to those who follow tech and even less so to those in the smartphone industry. The story began with Pure Digital Technologies, which introduced the low-priced, simple-to-use Flip in 2007, and was ranked by Deloitte as one of the fastest information technology companies before being bought by Cisco in 2009 for $590 million. The only problem was that Cisco failed to anticipate the rapid evolution of smartphones and other devices like Apple's iPod which provide an easy means to both capture video and share it. Cisco has an opportunity to integrate these capabilities into the Flip but failed to do so. That left the Flip as a cool device for making videos but one more thing to carry around -- and far less capable in other ways than today's smartphones.

The move makes sense for Cisco which is under pressure to show growth. The consumer market has been a distraction from Cisco's five key company priorities – core routing, switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video. The consumer-oriented telepresence service called "umi" is another example of a compelling idea, but ended up being a high-priced HDTV offering that was too much of a hassle, and too costly, to compete with Skype, web cams and other video chat technoologies. Cisco plans to roll their umi unit into the Business TelePresence product line. Cisco's WebEx service also integrates video so there's the opportunity to leverage umi technology across several business units. Although exiting businesses is rarely an easy decision, it's likely the right one for Cisco.

The Split of NSN?

The Telecom infrastructure market has gone through a wrenching transformation in the last decade and the most recent downturn has accelerated the change. According to a recent Reuters report, Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Siemens AG (SI) are considering an IPO as a way to exit from their 50-50 stakes in Nokia Siemens Networks. Despite years trying to make their respective investments in telecom infrastructure payoff, the NSN joint venture failed to make a profit. The two companies have been searching for a new partner in the private equity sector but have so far been unable to find a suitor. The joint venture began in 2007 only to have a global economic recession take hold one year later. Tough competition from Chinese vendors Huawei, ZTE and market leader Ericsson eroded NSN's market share aided also by uncertainty in product roadmaps from the combined venture.

Nonetheless, NSN has managed an impressive pair of wins in North America, including its $1.2 billion purchase of Motorola Inc.'s network business and a $7 billion deal to build Harbinger Capital Partners' LTE network over an eight-year span.

Verizon Getting Ready to Launch LTE Service

At long last, LTE is about to hit the big time in the U.S.. At CTIA in October, Verizon launched their LTE network, saying the service will be available in 38 markets covering 110 million potential customers before the end of the year. They plan to increase that coverage to 200 million pops by 2012 and more than 285 million pops by the end of 2013. Verizon's recent advertisements are claiming a launch in December. The goal is increase network speeds dramatically with downlink speeds of up to 12 megabits per second and up to 5 Mbps on the uplink. We can also expect to see a flurry of new devices to take advantage of their new network, likely at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January.

BlackBerry PlayBook - Tablet Market Heating Up

The big news from RIM this week was the official announcement of the BlackBerry PlayBook, the latest entry into the growing computer tablet market. I'm personally very excited about the potential this beauty holds for road warriors like myself. I have a pretty small laptop but it still weighs about 5lbs. At 0.9lbs, the BlackBerry Playbook significantly lightens my load. I also like the fact that I can view all the apps on the BlackBerry smartphone directly on the PlayBook via Bluetooth and don't have to worry about syncing or duplicating data on the two devices. This is handled automatically by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The new tablet OS is a powerhouse and promises to deliver speed and performance not seen on tablet computers to date. It's based on QNX Neutrino software from QNX Software Systems, a maker of real-time OSs and is used in demanding environments such as planes, automobiles, high-end routers and power plant control systems. Secure, reliable and fast. Doesn't get much better than that for a road warrior.

The announcement today about Kobo e-books being available on the BlackBerry Playbook promises to add value from a content perspective. Kobo will be pre-loaded on the PlayBook and integrated with BlackBerry's email, allowing users to share books and create live, book-driven social networking groups. Easy access to 2.2 million titles while on the road and synchronized with me BlackBerry.

I can't wait!

Key features and specs of the BlackBerry PlayBook include:

• 7" LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi - 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
  Measures 5.1"x7.6"x0.4" (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
  Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

Consolidating Mobile Development Platforms

Alcatel_Lucent seems intent on simplifying the development of mobile applications for its carrier customers. It announced today that it has acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software and applications development tools vendor. What makes this announcement interesting is that traditional NEPs are now offering applications solutions to operators as data consumption grows and voice revenues decline. For years carriers have been attempting to build their own ecosystems to attract developers on their network but have largely failed to do so. ALU's acquisition is clearly part of the company’s broader application enablement strategy, which helps wireless operators leverage the network so operators can remain relevant to end users. Open Plug allows developers to create mobile applications once and convert the code into native software that runs on leading device operating systems such as iPhone or Symbian. There's also another angle here available to ALU since the OpenPlug technology also supports porting applications to non-mobile devices such as IPTV set top boxes, game consoles and other devices.

ALU appears to be on buying binge as it assembles the necessary pieces to offer its carrier customers. The company bought ProgrammableWeb in June. That company enables developers to easily access new APIs as they are created and shared in a clearing house type of format. Ideas for creating interesting mashups, leveraging social networks and other How To tips are available.

We can expect to see similar acquisitions across the NEP community as the industry increasingly seeks to leverage the growth of smartphones and data usage. The easier it is for service providers, enterprises and developers to write mobile applications without regard to device type, the more broadly content can be distributed and consumed. And that equals higher ARPU.

Motorola WiMAX a boost to NSN's Portfolio - But Does it Matter?

Motorola's recent sale of their network equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks for an estimated $1.3B is a good addition to NSN's WiMAX portfolio. Motorola also has a reasonable presence in CDMA networks but I think the WiMAX technology was the primary reason for NSN's interest. The combination of the two pushes NSN into the #2 spot for wireless infrastructure in the US, a market where it has previously had little traction.

WiMAX itself is at an interesting point in its evolution. It had a time to market advantage relative to other high speed 4G technologies such as LTE. Sprint, with the help of its partner Clearwire, recently announced seven new cities with 4G WiMAX service, bringing its total of U.S. cities covered to 43. Analysts have predicted solid growth of WiMAX over the next five years (see ABI Research chart). Still, handsets that support WiMAX are fairly limited. Sprint offers one device at this time - HTC's Evo 4G. At least the Evo 4G is selling so well that demand is exceeding supply.

That said, the jury is still out on the long term success of WiMAX. Global subscriber adoption of WiMAX simply hasn't met expectations. Although revenue was up in Clearwire's most recent quarter, they reported a loss of $94M. In November 2009, the operator needed a fund infusion of $1.5B to turn itself around. Even in emerging markets, WiMAX uptake has been slower than expected. And with 4G LTE deployments hitting the market by the end of 2010, the window of 4g exclusivity that WiMAX has enjoyed is rapidly closing. It will be interesting to see how the two technologies co-exist (or not) in the years ahead.