The first assignment for this week is to do a research on a customer sector and establish a Technology Scoping Document, which at the moment we are just identifying the state of each technology. For the Knowledge Base Role, each of us has to choose either: MySQL, PHP or Documentation of the Knowledge Base we will be polishing in the near future. For the research on Technology Sector, each of us has to choose either: Hardware, Network and User Connectivity, or Software.

I am assigned to do a research on Connectivity which contains 3 topics. They are:

• The path from 2G to 3G mobile communication.
• Specifications for AGP 8X and PCI Express.
• Long distance (20km) Wireless PABX.

I am asked to clarify and improve only the necessary reports for the previous week. The reports have to be further done until no ambiguity and a clear flow of information. In addition, a new paragraph titled “Classification” has to be added to each of the report. This paragraph will provide a narration of 30 words or more of what the technology is.

There are two assignments for me for this week. The first assignment is to start version control on all discussion papers. The first digit is the release number, starting from 0 for draft, 1 for release to KB, 2 for substantial revision and etc. The second digit is progression of draft at team level. The third digit is the progression at personal level and this is not compulsory. For each updated report from this week onward, the team is asked to track all the updated information. Therefore, I am asked to restructure my report and fit into version 0.2. The second assignment is to do an Industry Research. In this research, I am asked to update all the topics in “Wireless” in the Technology Briefing since November last year.

This week research is a combination of Technology and Industry. The topic I am assigned to research on is called “Setting up and operating an Internet Service Provider business in terms of technologies, equipment and skills required”.

I am asked to continue and improve on the research for setting up the ISP business. To further the research, I am asked to find out:

• Customers: The type of services to be provided such as Dial Up, ADSL, Wireless, Satellite and etc.
• Suppliers: The type of technologies available and suitability of each in terms of cost, bandwidth, latency and QoS.
• Operation: Capital equipment for connecting customers to Internet, and operation procedures.

I am asked to obtain further details as follows:

• On the technologies and commercial products for the First Mile Connection such as the equipments needed for each service for both subscribers’ end and the suppliers’ end, services’ bandwidths and distance supported.
• What are the standards involved in the Point of Presence (POP).
• How the connection of backbone in an ISP and the technologies required.

I am asked to survey five largest ISPs in New Zealand and provide the following information:

• On the types of connections provided.
• Services provided to customers.
• Installation costs and monthly charges.
• Number of customers.
• Their unique propositions.
• Domestics and international bandwidth guarantee and provisions.

I am asked to review all my work done so far which are the Network and User Connectivity research as well as the progress on the Knowledge Base modifications. Then, I need to identify the specific work that is related to an academic paper covered so far in the university. Besides, I also need to arrange the correlations (between project work and academic study) to reveal any particular technology constituency or applications.

Continue on the research done in week 9 & 10.

In this week, I am asked to start working on the Knowledge Base. Our team goal is to complete this Knowledge Base at the end of the project in order to be used to archive articles, reports, projects, researches and etc. Each of us will be assigned some tasks on the Knowledge Base and work independently. I have been assigned to work on Report Management Section and Supplier Management Section. The final results of our tasks will then be sent to our Vice Supervisor, Edmond, to check and combine them together. Edmond will coordinate the progress and assist each of us on reporting standard; find an appropriate Version Control and QA scheme.

The task for this week is to find out how the ISPs provide their services such as Dial Up, ADSL, Wireless and etc. Some important issues are researched such as how they obtain their bandwidth and what equipments are required for them to install.
Besides, I have to research on the technology development and commercial deployment of IEEE 802.16a for wireless communication.

In week 15, my task is to work on the Knowledge Base on the Report Section. Jobs to be done are like adding and removing new sources from a report and improve the search function in order to remove redundancies.
In week 16, my tasks are:

• To contact an Internet wholesale such as Orcon to find out their bandwidth wholesale schemes and pricing.
• Identify the availability of equipment to be installed at ISP for obtaining wholesale bandwidth.
• Identify hardware and software to be installed at ISP for billing retail customers.
• Research on a new standard 802.11d for world mode.

In week 17, my task is to work on the Knowledge Base on the Supplier Section. Jobs to be done are like adding and removing suppliers and improve the database and access levels.
In week 18, my tasks are:

• Update 802.11 standards developments and clarify inter-relationships.
• Research about Telecom’s Private Office offerings and how it works.
• Research about IP Centrex offering and how it works.
• Continue on ISP wholesale-to-retail equipment and billing issues.

In week 19, my task is to work on the Knowledge Base in improving both the Report and Supplier section by linking them to the existing technologies. Jobs to be done are like adding a list of technologies with hyperlinks to the particular technologies details pages on each report and supplier details page. In order to do this, few modifications have been done on the database and new classes for the modifications have been created as well. Moreover, removing either reports or suppliers will need to remove their particular technologies.
In week 20, my tasks are:

• Update 802.11 standards developments by including the ratification date and status.
• Extend research of 802.11 standards to commercial deployments (find out which 802.11 products have incorporated some or all of 802.11 c/d/e/f/i standards).
• Update the status of commercial deployment in NZ (such as Walker Wireless, RoamAd or other parties).
• Continue on ISP wholesale-to-retail equipment and billing issues.

In week 21, my task is to work on the Knowledge Base on the Technology section. This includes adding, removing and updating of Technology reports. Besides, adding report will require links to the respective research reports and suppliers. In update, new links can be added or removed.
In week 22, my tasks are:

• Provide a summary of all the 802.11 Standards.
• Classify 802.11 hardware suppliers into technology categories.
• Update the status of commercial deployment in NZ (such as Walker Wireless, RoamAd or other parties).
• Continue on ISP wholesale-to-retail equipment and billing issues.