4. February 2012 by admin.

Anyone needing a Livewire Access Controller FB-10 (former product known as Livewire Service Selector) for marine vessels: Ships, Yachts …

Please let me know. I am a value added, supporting, reseller of this product line.

There are 3 models:

FB-10
FB-10 Pro
FB-10 Pro Rack Mount

The software has been recently updated - many more features -

I have the latest product brochure if anyone needs it.

* The Access Controller is designed to manage up to 10 different
communications systems via a simple Graphical User Interface (GUI)
located on a single PC or multiple PC’s anywhere on the same network
around the vessel.

With an ever increasing range of off-vessel internet connections offering a
wide variety of cost/speed benefits, the ability to switch between services
has never been more important. With the Livewire Connections Access
Controller FB-10 product range you can take control of your WAN
connections as well as efficiently managing your LAN traffic. Whether you
run a commercial ship or a luxury yacht, the FB-10 can save you both time
and money.

Key Benefits
Control up to 10 data services from a simple interface
Airtime provider independent, no on-going contracts
Spend control alerts to eliminate excessive airtime bills
Dynamic Firewall to restrict access per service
Access data call records and onboard billing
Quality of Service to prioritise bandwidth
Bandwidth graphs/logs to monitor your link
Improved MAC address reservation
Auto-Failover to secondary connection

Key Features
Integrated FleetBroadband Support
Quality of Service for bandwidth prioritisation
Live and historical bandwidth monitoring
DHCP with reserved MAC address reservations
Remote ‘back door’ access
Multi Language Support
Automatic Failover and Switch Back

The latest brochure is here: Livewire Access Controller FB-10 Brochure 2012

Here are some older videos where I talked about the reasons and uses of the Livewire FB-10, they were done in 2010




Livewire FB-10 video #1




Livewire FB-10 video #2

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

communications @ marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

26. March 2010 by admin.

“Cisco Ethernet switches to play broader roles” - says an article under Trend Analysis, on page 11 of March 22, 2010 issue of Network World…

* But did you know? That Ethernet Switches aren’t affected by a looming change of IP Standards (See my IPv6 article below)? Nope it will just hop across them the same as IPv4 does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model

Ethernet switches operate at the Data Link Layer, the second rung up the ladder on the way to your software (Application) on your computer. There are 7 layers altogether in this model, which is used as a Reference Model, for how things actually work. Layer 1, the Physical Layer is where wires are connected together to Ethernet Switches and Computers. This is where “signaling” occurs and things are pretty much encoded and decoded in binary. That’s a pretty low level, eh?

Layer 2 deals with “Physical Addressing” but that doesn’t mean IP Addressing it means “MAC” addressing. Thats those long Hexadecimal Addresses that every network card from wired to wireless has. At this level the Ethernet Switch doesn’t know and doesn’t care about IP Addressing. You could be talking about frogs or military aircraft and Layer 2 wouldn’t be any wiser about it. In an Ethernet Switch, as opposed to an old-style Network Hub (which basically just blasted every message to ever computer wether they wanted it or not), *it* keeps track of which MAC addresses are present on each of its ports (those jacks that you plug CAT5 or CAT6 RJ45 connector-type cables into) and builds a table for “Fast Switching” of Ethernet Frames (ethernet smallest unit of messaging) to the correct port. That’s how traffic gets to a port on an Ethernet Switch.

So if an Ethernet Switch is dealing with Ethernet Frames and Mac Addresses - how in the heck do you get IP Traffic (Internet Traffic) to a computer?

Enter “Arp” - Address Resolution Protocol. All computers, in their TCP/IP implementation know how to use a broadcast protocol called ARP. Arp basically are messages sent out by your computer, by the TCP/IP Stack over your Ethernet Card, saying “Arp who has 192.168.1.1?”. The computer that actually has the IP Address 192.168.1.1 answers something like this: “Arp 192.168.1.1 is *me* at MAC address aa:bb.cc:dd:ee:ff:a1:b2″. And from then on, for a little while, all traffic for that IP Address is sent to that MAC address … which our friendly Ethernet Switch knows is on one particular port.

Wireless, forget about the 802.11a/b/g/n protocols, works pretty much the same way. A wireless access point acts as if it were a Port on an Ethernet Switch. Aside from any router functionality that might be in an Access/Router combo unit, it’s just a fancy “wireless Ethernet Switch”.

How about that????

—
Alan Spicer
 
DBA Alan Spicer Telcom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
Computer Services, Wired/Wireless Networking,
Cell/Sat/Landline Communications, General Consulting…
Marine, Business, Small Office and Home Office (SOHO)
 
* Cost Savings and Integration of Multiple Internet Technologies
on board Sail and Motor Yachts * Documentation, Operating
Instructions, and Support after the Sale *
 
* http://www.marinetelecom.net/
* http://www.internetforyachts.net/
* http://www.wifiyacht.net/
* 954-683-3426
 
Mobile Internet! Step up to the HSPA 3G Fast Internet!
 
Ericsson W35 released in the USA. This you’ve gotta SEE!!
Better looking presentation than W25 (you might not want to
hide this one in the Doghouse!) + High Speed Upload which
the W25 did not have.
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/
 

Livewire: Access Controller (Service Selector):
http://www.marinetelecom.net/Livewire_Service_Selector/

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | 1 Comment »

25. March 2010 by admin.




Here is an interesting, easy to understand, video I found on Youtube, about IPv6. It’s not the seminar or webinar that I talk about below. It’s much easier to understand than that was. They talked with a lot of cable Internet terms on the webinar that I viewed, that your average viewer of this blog just would not understand or appreciate. And it was bent a lot toward Cable Internet Service Providers (technical people.) Anyway the above video is both interesting and easy to understand for a MUCH viewer audience. So… I liked it, and embedded it on here. Go and thank the guy that made it!

I watched and listened to an IPv6 Deployment seminar online the other day, brought to me by Communications Technology, one of the email newsletters that I get.

Comcast Cable is on roll in deploying IPv6 in their Cable Modem Internet Networks not only in their command and control structure but out to the actual homes and businesses. They are asking for Beta Testers … so if you are *that* type of person and you are on Comcast you might jump in there and ask to be a Beta Tester of Ipv6 out to the premises.

For those that don’t know, a lot of the issue of IPv4 Addresses running out, was mitigate by NAT - Network Address Translation. That’s that “192.168.x.x” stuff that you see on your computers coming from your router that gets the *real* Internet IP Address. This however just delayed the problem, so now Government Networks, Satellite and Cellular Networks, and your local Comcast Cable Network (and others) are scrambling to put IPv6 into play. After all *I know* from experience, having worked in a Cable Company / ISP - what’s involved in getting an ARIN allocation of huge chunks of IPv4 Address Space. You have to do a *lot* of figuring and managine of your IP Space and some cool paperwork using CIDR notation (Subnetting, Supernetting, IP Address Aggregation) … you know? Fun stuff.

Awhile back I posted an article on my main web site on IPv6, so I’ll recall that for you for reference. http://www.marinetelecom.net/ipv6-addressing.html <– There it is.

So with IPv6 there will be enough IP Addresses for your dog, your cat, you goldfish, your toaster, your living room carpet, and more to get an IP Address. No NAT. “It can all be over right now, no more running up Curahee, no more Captain Sobel” :-) <– That was joke, a movie quote coming from the Band of Brothers series that was released on HBO and now on DVD.

Back when I wrote that article page … I was running Freenet6 on my Linux Server and sharing IPv6 connectivity to my local network by running what I had to run to do that… But I just revisited this and Freenet has been taking over, apparently, from where it used to be run by Hexago Company, to now being GogoNet or Gogo6 … (google.com that…) And although it seemed to me to be a bit more confusing (now they a “Community” on there. Wowww a Community … yawn…. ho hum) to find the Freenet6 stuff. But it’s still there. And you can get a Windows version and actually (almost) trivially get an authenticated Freenet6 Account (you can have an anonymous one as well, but not as capable, and not as educational) … whereby you can run the program on Windows, get logging in (authenticated mode), get a - what is it - /56? IP Block Allocation and “Serve” that to other computers on your LAN (Local Network.)

Pretty soon IPv6 will be the *norm* and we will all be on Ipv6 IP Addresses. For now, on some ISP’s, asking to be on IPV6 is like asking for Free Internet. On my DSL I doubt that AT&T would do that without charging me heaps of extra money (like they did with Business Class DSL.) The IPv4 “space” on the Internet will still be available, no matter what, because once IPv6 becomes the norm, then our ISP’s will have us Natively on IPv6 and will “Gateway” us to anything IPv4 that we need to get to.

So what _Am_ I going on about???? Well there are a FEW places on the Internet, The IPv6 “space” that you can only go on if you have IPv6 Connectivity. It’s not a LOT. So mainly this is good for educational purposes … to learn about IPv6, the Numbering Scheme of it, How it Works Dot Com, and prepare for the Judgement Day coming soon when IPv6 will hit us all like A Ton of Bricks. Don’t wait for the last minute!

By the way, IPv6 is built-in to Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, Linux, and other modern Operating Systems. IPv6 is available in Windows XP by typing “ipv6 install” in a CMD prompt window. You can remove it from Windows XP by typeing “ipv6 uninstall” - just in case you have any problems that seem to come from it. I seem to remember some issues in the past with IPv6 on my computers and onboard some motor yachts. Some conflicts of some sort occurred. So make sure that you know how to take it back out if you need to.

Soooo. I am running on Windows 7 64-bit - Gogo Client Utility (The HOME version) for test and educational purposes. And I signed up for an account with Freenet6 in order to get a username and password, and be able to request a “/56″ IP Address Block Allocation. *A hell of a lot easier than, as an ISP, getting an Ipv4 “/20″ allocation!!!! And by turing on a simple feature “Home Access” - I was able to share my IPv6 Connectivity with the whole premises here. So every machine on my network automatically gets IPv6 Address, and my machine as the Router, and can access IPv6 Internet Resources. Pretty cool, huhhh????

P.S. Oh, your phones, your PDA’s, on Cellular, etc. will be using Ipv6 more and more as time goes on … if they aren’t using it already. 

P.S.2. - Here is another *good read*:

http://itexpertvoice.com/home/troubleshooting-ipv6-on-windows-7-and-why-its-worth-the-bother/

 You may not need IPv6 right now, but you will soon. Fortunately, Windows 7 supports the advanced networking protocol better than any other Windows version. But that doesn’t mean you should rely on the default IPv6 configuration.

If you’re an old tech coot like me, you know that the “Imminent Death of the Internet” has been  predicted for decades now. While the Internet is in no danger of dying anytime soon, the days of relying on the old core TCP/IP protocol IPv4 do appear to be coming to an end.

After years of delaying it with techniques like Network Address Translation (NAT), we’re finally really running out of IPv4 addresses. Major ISPs like Comcast, and Web sites such as YouTube now support IPv6. This time around, IPv6 really is getting attention in corporate networks and the Internet. Fortunately for the enterprise desktop, Windows 7 is also ready.

Early Windows versions of IPv6 were, ah, crude. Though that’s not to say that Windows 7 does a perfect job with IPv6 even now. Certainly, the people who appear to have IPv6 connectivity but no network access have learned this the hard way.

(more of that… at the link just given above)

P.S.3. - Another *interesting read*:

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/02/youtube-calls-on-ipv6.html

* I’ve always had an interested in “telephone stuff” which is why my web site has “telecom” in it. My old: http://www.marinetelecom.net/page-2.html shows some of that interest - as well as other interests I have had over the years.

Friday, February 5, 2010
YouTube Calls on IPv6

The first telephone numbers in the latter part of the 19th century were short and simple, made up of no more than a few digits. Calls would be routed through operators and these operators would then manually patch these calls into the lines of their intended recipients. As more and more people got telephones, the length of telephone numbers grew from three to four to seven and then eventually to 10 digits and beyond. Today, cities like Manhattan have been forced to have multiple area codes (917, 646, 212, 347, etc.) and if you want to dial outside of your country, add on a few more numbers.

So what does this history lesson have to do with YouTube? IP (the Internet Protocol) is the protocol used to communicate data across the Internet in the same way telephones connected conversations over a century ago. Each connection has an IP address that works like a telephone number. Just like telephone numbers, these IP addresses need to grow to accommodate all the new people coming online. The problem is that IPv4, the current version of the Internet protocol, uses a 32-bit address and those addresses are running out of space — fast. In 2000, Internet users had consumed 50% of IPv4 address space. Today, IPv4 has less than 10% of addresses available. When address space runs out, users will have to share addresses, because there won’t be enough to go around.

But there is hope. IPv6 has a vastly larger address space (128-bit) and allows everyone to have an incredibly large number – 2^64 or more — of personalized IP addresses for all their devices (think of it as having a whole telephone exchange in your home). Not having to share IP addresses is good for users because it means better, more relevant information can be delivered to them whenever they want it. It’s a win for openness and new applications because any device can connect directly to any other device on the Internet. It’s even a win for security, because it’s harder for hackers to find your computer and attack it. But up until now, IPv6 still hasn’t gotten as much traction as IPv4. And content creators and users have yet to adopt it on a wide scale.

Since the very first announcement of ipv6.google.com (IPv6 connection required; if you don’t have it, ask your ISP to deploy it), we have been committed to supporting IPv6 and have steadily added IPv6 support to more and more services. The service most requested to have IPv6 support has unquestionably been YouTube. Given all of this, we’re proud to make YouTube available over IPv6 and to begin streaming videos from a select number of sites worldwide to our Google over IPv6 partners. With YouTube on board, we now have a significant amount of content delivered on IPv6 and a real audience/traffic for it. This is a good day for YouTube, our users and for an open and accessible Internet.




IPv6 by Johannes Ullrich - Part 1




IPv6 by Johannes Ullrich - Part 2

 —

Alan Spicer (Radio Amateur KA4UDX)

http://www.marinetelecom.net - http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954 683 3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

6. January 2010 by admin.

I thought this was funny enough to share, on:

http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/18/126/Mobile-Wireless/review-wireless-lan-analysis-tools.html

In the document it has an Executive Summary - Wireless Analysis Tools - sidebar, which says, and I quote:

Q: Users complain that your WLAN misbehaves every day around 1 p.m. Do you:

a. Blame it on employees surfing the Web at lunchtime;
b. Assume it’s just the nature of WLANs to be
erratic; or

c. Tell the whiners to be thankful they have a
WLAN at all?

The right answer is “none of the above.”

* I know there have been *some* times when Yacht Captains or Engineers want to tell the whiners to be thankful they have a Wireless Network, and Internet at all…

But we all know that’s not the answer. Crew these days for yachts are expecting Internet Access - at least *most* of the time. And we might even be at the tipping point where potential crew will walk because of lack of Internet connectivity onboard a yacht.

Anyway, I thought that would be a funny way, or a fun way, to talk about the subject. I am now in my 6th year working for Marine Customers, mostly Sail and Motor Yacht Customers, assisting with and providing Onboard Networks and Internet Systems - as well as Assisting With and Cleaning Up / Improving existing such Systems.

Well there yah go…! Happy New Year!

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

6. January 2010 by admin.

As a 2010 recommendation (carried over from 2009)…

802.11n WiFi Standard recommend at least for the “inside” of yachts for now…

802.11 “N” the new standard for wireless access points and client networking devices (such as laptops, pda’s, and smart phones), is an addition to the older 802.11 “B” and 802.11 “G” that we’ve been using for a few years now. I have been recommending 802.11 N capable wireless access points for “WLAN” - Wireless Local Area Network - to yachts throughout 2009. When you get 802.11N you get backward compatibility for 802.11B and G client networking devices as well.  WLAN basically is the wireless equivalent of Catagory 5 / 5e / or 6 wired networking within (inside) a premises. So for Yachts and other Marine Vessels this means your “inside the boat” method of accessing the “Boats Onboard Network” which usually also (through router or routers) gives you access to the Internet (the “WAN” - Wide Area Network, which these days is just a “techy” way of saying “The Internet Connection”.) If you can get both 2.4 Gigaherts (Ghz) along with 5.0 Gigaherts Wireless Access Points in the process that would be even better. 5.0 Ghz (Dual Band Access Points)  is used by some Apple Notebooks and may be available in newer Windows Laptops or as an add-on Network Card. 5.0 Ghz will be less used than 2.4 Ghz since the majority of the zillions of WiFi Users are still on that band. So 5.0 Ghz may be less prone to interference and may give you a dedicated “radio” to talk to in such and access point. If the captain, for example, had a 5.0 Ghz WiFi Card in a laptop and everyone else used 2.4 Ghz, he basically gets a seperate band/channel to himself.

For the outside connection, the WAN or WWAN - Wireless WAN connection to WiFi Hotspots I still do NOT recommend 802.11 “N” because Hotspots will not be using it, and the benefits of it may be lost in an outdoor longer range environment.  WiFi Hotspots won’t have 802.11 “N” because it’s MIMO (Multi Input, Multi Output) Multi-Antenna design. WiFi Hotspots will not at this point have Multiple-Radio, Mimo, Multi-Antenna installations - and might not have this for quite some time, if ever. 802.11 N takes advantage, rather than suffering from, close in, lots of obstacles (multipath radio signals) in the way, and uses it to your advantage. Outdoors this just might not work out that way. There just won’t be that many bounces on obstacles or need for multiple antennas. This may change in the future. If anyone knows of an Outdoor WiFi System that uses 802.11 N please let me know.

References: http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/18/1733/Mobile-Wireless/research-why-802-11n-will-revolutionize-connectivity.html

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11n

—

Alan Spicer (KA4UDX)

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

5. March 2009 by admin.

A lot of owners/users of the Ericsson W25 are not aware that it can do some special things - besides the magic of providing Analog Telephone usage of Cellular Voice plans and 3G High Speed Internet. The E W25 can also be used to share USB memory sticks and external USB hard disk drives to the on board network (ethernet wired ports and wifi if you’ve got wifi on board connected.) This can be helpful if you have normally done that via a desktop computer or such and don’t want to leave that computer on 24/7.

Configure USB Services

The Ericsson W25 may function as a network storage device or printer server
for LAN/WLAN hosts using Windows File and Printer sharing (also known as
SMB or CIFS). 
It is possible to have two USB storage devices or one storage device and a
USB printer connected to the Ericsson W25 at the same time.
When an external hub is connected, the Ericsson W25 supports connection of
up to two storage devices and one printer at the same time.

File Sharing
USB disk drives or memory sticks that are connected to the Ericsson W25 are
automatically mounted and shared over the LAN (and WLAN, if enabled).

The included files are shared with all devices belonging to the same
workgroup on the LAN/WLAN and all users have full read/write (including
delete) access to the shared files.
Note: Only the first partition of the storage device will be automatically
mounted and shared through the smb service.

Printer Sharing
When a printer is connected to the USB port, the Ericsson W25 automatically
creates a local UNIX printer that is shared over the LAN (and WLAN, if
enabled) using SMB/CIFS protocol.
The smb service only performs protocol conversion between SMB/CIFS and
the local printer.

* Note: For my direct customers with E W25 units - If you need any help using the sharing services of the unit … please contact me. I have just done a printer on a S/Y sharing it via the built-in wifi of an E W25 - so I know that is a little tricky. You only need to do that if your printer isn’t already network aware (is not wireless or wired LAN capable) e.g. USB only printers.

Sharing hard drives and USB memory sticks is pretty easy, but you may still need a little help if you are not familiar with Windows Sharing. So my customers feel free to contact me if you need assistance with this stuff.

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in Computer Networking onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »