NBN live

NBN live showcases applications that could benefit from the National Broadband Network.

The Australia Centre for Broadband Innovation is hosting a one-day seminar to explore the challenges and opportunities for developers and business managers looking to create new applications and services for next generation broadband networks. It will explore the broadband enabled home of the future and the intersection of technology platforms and new business opportunities.

The seminar will include an outline of the emerging broadband ecosystem for developers and service companies and wide coverage of:

• new devices such as smart screens, sensors and appliances
• new platforms, tools and protocols for building applications, and
• business opportunities for Australian enterprises.

Date: Friday 27th April 2012
Venue: Australian Technology Park, Bay 4 Theatre, Locomotive Workshop, Sydney, Australia
Registration: Register for the Broadband Apps Day 2012

Previously, the initial upload of existing data to cloud services providers was a painstakingly slow process, often taking many months as this process is limited by the upstream bandwidth available to the customer's premises.

Data On-Ramping allows customers to migrate to the cloud in a fraction of the time it would take on existing ADSL2+ or SHDSL Internet, as illustrated in the table below from Glow Networks:

** Best-case timeframe estimates to complete the migration to cloud services, assuming that the upload was left to run 24/7, and that there was no other traffic on the link and 10% protocol overhead. These figures are intended as a guide only, and actual upload times may be impacted on by a number of external factors.

These figures have been provided by Glow Networks and NBN Co does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of this information. The example speeds provided represent speeds experienced by Glow Networks and are not necessarily representative of the speeds achievable by end users. NBN Co is designing its fibre network to be capable of delivering high speeds to its wholesale customers. Speeds actually achieved by end users will depend on a number of factors including the quality of their equipment and in-premises connection, the broadband plans offered by their service provider and how their service provider designs its network to cater for multiple end users.

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CSIRO aims to reduce preventable blindness with an inexpensive telehealth system that sends patients' eye images over a broadband connection to city specialists. Left undiagnosed and untreated, eye conditions such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy can lead to vision loss or total blindness.

"CSIRO aims to bring specialist eye care to the doorstep of people in rural and remote communities." Dr. Yogesan Kanagasingam

Improving access to regular eye screening in regional and remote areas of Australia is important because, for people living in these areas, losing some or all of their eyesight can severely restrict mobility, and this has flow-on effects to overall health and quality of life.

The diagnosis of many eye diseases begins with visual examination of the retina, typically involving large, expensive equipment operated by a specialist medical practitioner.

Through the Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO's experts in information and communication technologies (ICT) are developing a low cost, high quality eye screening system that gets around the problem of specialists travelling to the bush or patients trekking to the city.

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Labshare is a remote laboratory initiative that supports students and educators in accessing shared real lab apparatus across the internet, using data acquisition instrumentation and video cameras so that the remote apparatus can be controlled and monitored.

Students can access experiments in physics, geology, robotics, electronics, civil engineering and coming soon.... aerodynamics !

Remote labs enable students to interact with real physical equipment and to conduct real experiments from anywhere and at any time. While physical access to laboratories remains crucial for students, studies and past experience indicate that remote labs can provide significant advantages in the following circumstances:

• Flexibility - Remote labs give students greater flexibility of when and where to conduct experiments
• Repeatability - Remote labs allow students to complete or repeat experiments in their own time
• Access - Remote labs provide experiences that hands-on labs cannot, such as access to equipment that is too expensive, dangerous, or logistically problematic
• Focus - Remote labs enable students to gain an enhanced perception of specific aspects of an experiment by focusing the student's attention on relevant concepts.
• Sharing – Laboratory apparatus can be shared across many institutions, resulting in access to a much greater pool of equipment and significant cost-savings.

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On Nov 3 the Minster for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips announced the 'Ageing Well at Home with Broadband' project as part of the Victorian Government's Broadband-Enabled Innovation Program.

The innovative project is developing a broadband-enabled exercise program that aims to promote health and wellbeing among older people, potentially enabling them to stay in their homes longer and promote social inclusion. The technology will be developed for the Microsoft Kinect platform, and will be initially trialled with twenty older residents in Brunswick, Victoria's first NBN release site. An eighteen month trial will assess the effectiveness of broadband-enabled interactive gaming technology to assist older people to maintain independence in their home through improved social connectedness, and physical and mental wellbeing.

The project collaborators include Moreland City Council, the University of Melbourne's Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES), National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), Infoxchange, Microsoft, Council on the Ageing (COTA), Merri Community Health Services, NBN Co, and AARNet.

Mike Quigley, CEO of NBN Co commented "As the percentage of people aged 65 and over increases - ultimately predicted to be more than 25 percent of the population by 2047 - fall-related injuries are expected to place an increasing burden on Australia's health systems and aged care facilities, including those in Victoria. Advances in technology, combined with the prospect of a national broadband network should encourage the implementation of new approaches to help reduce the incidence of falls among older people. To this end, a high speed broadband network makes it possible for service providers to deliver interactive therapy to older Australians in their homes using engaging video gaming technologies," he said.

Kate Cornick, Executive Director of IBES said; "Broadband-enabled technologies can support people to retain their independence and maintain their health as they age. This trial will develop active gaming technologies for use by older people in their own homes."

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"Connections" is a NSW Department of Education and Training initiative that connects public schools to experts around the globe via video conferencing. With Connections a school can experience a virtual excursion to Reef HQ in Townsville, the Alaska SeaLife Centre or the NASA space centre in Houston. Connections video conferencing excursions bring students and teachers face to face with experts across the globe. The excursions are designed to enrich and supplement curriculum across all stages and key learning areas.

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