Tech Musing #2: Facebook Will Open Source Wireless Gear To Forge A 5G World

Topic: Facebook will Open Source Wireless Gear to forge a 5G World
Source: http://www.wired.com/2016/02/facebook-open-source-wireless-gear-forge-5g-world/

Data:

• Facebook unveiled new project that seeks to accelerate the evolution of technologies that drive our mobile networks and freely share this work with the world’s telecoms
• Plans on building everything from new wireless radios to new optical fiber equipment that can shuttle data between those radios
• It will “open source” the designs, so that any wireless carrier can use them including its drones and lasers
• Working alongside Deutsche Telekom (largest wireless carrier in Germany), SK Telecom (largest wireless carrier in South Korea), and Nokia (supplies much of the world’s carriers’ network hardware)
• Leading to better wireless networks
• Facebook’s Telecom Infra Project involves the use of its drones and lasers that will extend all the way to the edge of mobile networks
• The project is to help expand and enhance their telecoms at a much faster rate
• Efforts to build new telecom technology
• Project is too expensive, too elaborate, and too difficult to use traditional hardware suppliers, like Dell, HP, and Cisco
• Have built cheaper, more streamlined, and more malleable breed of gear, including computer servers, data storage devices, and networking switches
• Idea was to build very large networks from very small and very cheap pieces that could be easily reprogrammed—and easily replaced.
• March 2014, Facebook launched its Connectivity Lab
• Aimed to build a wide range of technologies that could deliver Internet access to the hinterlands around the world
• Telecom Infra Project will explore technology that can push places like the US and Europe towards “5G” technologies
• In the developing world, he hopes to move networks beyond the much the slower 2G tech that are now the norm.
• The project could explore new radio technologies along the lines of the pCell radios
• Which broadcast signals that follow your phone from place to place
• Estimated that this technology could increase wireless speeds by 1,000 fold

Analysis:

Project management consists of the processes used to plan the project and then to monitor and control it. The Standish Group CHAOS Report shows that only 32% of IT projects are completely successful. The reasons for this high failure rate are listed as: poor IT management and procedures, inadequate executive support, unclear business needs and project objectives, and inadequate user involvement.

Projects are based off of innovation and new ideas. With this Facebook project in particular, the article expresses that the innovation process is at its beginning stages. Based off the article, Facebook’s Telecom Infra Project has executed just the first step of project planning. The project has identified the problem and obtained approvals from its stakeholders who in this case are wireless carriers, such as Nokia.

Telecom Infra Project responds to an opportunity to expand and enhance Facebook’s telecoms at a much faster rate. This gives them a slight competitive advantage because the open sourcing method of their technology allows other networks to use their hardware, like drones and lasers, to help attribute to this expanding coverage.

This project also resolves a major problem of getting faster Internet and technology to the entire world and most importantly the developing countries. With the increasing number of people using Facebook, it will give way to much more easier and faster access. Populations around the world will have better coverage of Telecoms.

Lessons Learned:

It is learned that the world is expanding in technology but only for those that are privileged enough to obtain it. Facebook is working toward bringing the world together through the innovation and open sourcing of technology. With the help of project planning and management, the Telecom Infra Project shall attain positive responses from its global users and stakeholders. The right planning of a project for any organization will prevent a project’s failure. “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” – Winston Churchill

Implications:

How or why is this important for MIS students to know and understand to make them better citizens? Well, we as MIS students are going to eventually become IT professionals, therefore I feel it is best to know what IT changes and innovations are happening around us. This gives us students an understanding of how large a project can be and how it can affect the world around us. It also reiterates the importance of project management and planning.

Innovations and projects aren’t always about the competitive advantage but what is the best way to benefit society that will in the end help prosper the company. The technology world is changing at a very fast pace, so us MIS students must be able to keep up with these changes to better grasp the understanding and success of our future careers and possibly implement an idea of our own that may help the world and not just our companies.