US networking spending lags

US government funding is going to prompt advances in networking and information technology (NIT) because other entities are not spending enough on research in that field, says the National Science Foundation (NSF), reports the Wall Street Journal.

On 23 December, the NSF posted a notice on the Federal Register seeking comment on the report 'Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology,' which was issued on 16 December.

“An important finding of this report is that the nation is actually investing far less in NIT [research and development] than is shown in the federal budget,” says the report.

Lloyd Roche, technology consultant for the Evergreen School Division, made a loud call for fibre optic-delivered high-speed Internet to service the school division at a presentation to the school board earlier this month, notes the Interlake Spectator.

"The current bandwidth at the school is at its maximum use. With everyone using it at the same time, download time slows to a crawl to the point where material cannot be accessed, and people are losing data," said Roche.

Currently, each school is on a local area network, with each school being like an island. With a wide area network, all the schools in a given town could be interconnected, with the added bonus of getting voice-over-Internet protocol, which would mean big savings on telephone costs.

Google and Apple, among others, are creating technologies to bring online and on-demand video content to TVs and other devices for mass consumption, so it should come as no surprise that Cisco Systems, the king of networking, is entering the game, writes Computerworld.

This week Cisco CEO John Chambers is set to unveil new technology at the Consumer Electronics Show that promises to bring "all of your content... all of your devices... all together now, " according to Cisco promotional materials.

However, the details are not clear, but a Cisco spokeswoman said: "At the event, we will make an announcement regarding Cisco's role in helping service providers and content providers meet the challenges and opportunities presented by the convergence of pay TV, online and on-demand content."