Adtran lays groundwork for superfast broadband over copper

Telecom equipment vendor Adtran has developed a technology that will make it easier for operators to roll out broadband speeds close to 500Mbps over copper lines.

The conventional wisdom is that copper is dying out and fiber is ascending. However, the cost of rolling out fiber is still too high for many operators, which instead want to upgrade their existing copper networks (and in some cases fiber simply can’t be installed). So there is still a need for technologies that can make use of copper networks and complement fiber.
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Adtran has developed what is calls FDV (Frequency Division Vectoring), which enhances the capabilities of two of these technologies—VDSL2 with vectoring and G.fast—by enabling them to better coexist over a single subscriber line, the company said.

VDSL2 with vectoring, which improves speeds by reducing noise and can deliver up to 150Mbps, is currently being rolled out by operators, while G.fast, which is capable of 500Mbps, is still under development.

The higher speeds are needed for applications such as 4K video streaming, IPTV, cloud-based storage and communication via HD video.

FDV will make it easier for operators to roll out G.fast once it’s ready and expand where it can be used, according to Adtran.

The first G.fast deployments will happen in the middle of 2015, a spokeswoman for Adtran said via email. The underlying standard is expected to be adopted by the end of the year. Once that happens, chip makers and equipment makers like Adtran can develop products for commercial deployments, she said.

The technology increases the bandwidth by using more spectrum. G.fast will use 106MHz of spectrum, which compares to the 17MHz or 30MHz used by VDSL2.

The development of G.fast is currently at a point where vendors are trying to show they are the best alternative for future upgrades. Recently, rival Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated a prototype technology called XG-Fast, which is capable of 1Gbps for upload and download traffic, as well as 10Gbps in download speeds when using two copper pairs, it said.

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10 things you need to know about Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3

Since the release of the first Surface nearly two years ago, Microsoft has been improving and revising its line of tablets. We tested a Surface Pro 3 that came with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD. Microsoft also included a Type Cover -- the keyboard designed for this tablet that also serves as a protective cover, which is normally sold separately. Bottom line: The Surface Pro 3 is a beautifully designed machine that shows off the Windows 8.1 operating system. It’s billed as a tablet, but I found myself preferring to use it as a notebook, a nifty ultraportable one -- and doing so through the Windows desktop environment.

Form factor
The Surface Pro 3 is comprised of styles that complement one another. The flatness of its back is offset by sides that angle outward toward the display screen. Due to its size, which is close to that of 8.5-by-11-inch paper with a thickness of 0.36 inches, it’s safest to hold this tablet with both hands. The kickstand flips out initially to an endpoint of 22 degrees, but the two hinges will gradually and gently give, allowing you to turn them back to 150 degrees. This angle helps you use the tablet when you have it set on a table, without the Type Cover. Placing it on your lap, with the Type Cover attached, and using it as a notebook is doable and not uncomfortable.

Keyboard: Type Cover
The Type Cover, which is available in four colors, attaches tightly with magnets to the edge of only one side of the tablet. The keyboard’s palm rest surface is a tight and smooth-to-the-touch felt. The protective cover is a rougher but softer felt, like a high-quality billiard table. The touchpad is wider than the one on the first version. And while the original rested flat when opened; this one can be raised into an upward incline. I found that this elevated profile did make my typing better.

Software
The Surface Pro 3 uses the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 Pro. This is, refreshingly, the “cleanest” Windows device (desktop, notebook or tablet) I’ve ever seen: It comes with several Windows Store apps owned by Microsoft, including Skype, but only one by a third-party: Flipboard. There are no third-party desktop applications. The only extraneous desktop application was Microsoft Office.

Display
The 12-inch, 2160-by-1440 pixel screen is color-calibrated, which aids in professional work where maintaining image fidelity is tantamount. To me, the colors looked somewhat dull. By default, the screen is set at a dim looking 50% brightness. I liked it better at 80% to 90%. Outdoors in sunlight, the display’s glass became so reflective that the screen was not viewable. When the tablet is held in portrait mode, its display’s aspect ratio is 2:3, which compares similarly to that of an 8.5-by-11-inch paper sheet. So the Surface Pro 3 can work well for previewing PDFs or scanned images of documents.

Performance
With an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, the tablet operated speedily with rarely a slowdown. I would purposely keep several tabs open in a web browser, while playing streaming music or video (at 1080p resolution), and jump between the Start Screen and desktop to launch applications or apps. The one notable time that the Surface Pro 3 became strained was when I updated Windows 8.1 through Windows Update. The upper-right of the tablet’s back (when the device is in its notebook orientation) began to feel warmer than usual to the touch, as the OS installed several updates onto itself. Things returned to normal after a required reboot to finish the installation process.

Digital pen: Surface Pen
The Surface Pro 3 comes with a digital pen, called the Surface Pen. You can use it to interact with Windows 8.1, as you would by tapping on the tablet’s touchscreen with your finger, but it was specially devised for the OneNote app. The Surface Pen has a button at its end that launches OneNote when you click it. Virtually doodling or writing with this digital pen on the Surface Pro 3 felt very much like doing so with an actual pen on paper. Even when I quickly swept its tip across the tablet’s display, OneNote kept up with my motions instantaneously to produce corresponding scribbles.

Sound
When set up as a notebook or held in landscape mode, the tablet’s speakers emanate sound through grills from the top edges of the bezel. The audio had a fullness, but lacked distinct and strong enough clarity in the high end. The volume range seemed narrow, but the loudness that these tiny speakers could put out was still impressive. When I listened through good-quality earbuds, the audio sustained clarity without any distortion at high volume settings.

The Surface Pro 3 has three mics: One in the bezel; two embedded in the back, which together are meant to capture sound in stereo. Using the Windows 8.1 default Sound Recorder app, the front mic recorded audio that sounded crisp and free of buzzing.

Camera
Both the front and rear cameras can capture images up to 5 megapixels. And, in general, I found they were equally capable of taking clear, in-focus shots under bright or sufficient light, whether indoors or outside. Colors appeared accurate and dynamic in such ideal situations.

The difference between them appeared to lie in how each handles focus: The rear camera couldn’t capture objects within about 22 inches in sharp focus. The front camera fared much better, focusing in at about 8 inches, as to be expected; this is the camera that will be transmitting your face when you’re video-chatting.

Battery
Microsoft lists the Surface Pro 3 being able to run for about 9 hours on a full charge. I managed to use it continuously as much as I could (letting it go to sleep when I took breaks) for almost 8 hours under its Windows 8.1 default settings. I browsed the web, captured audio and images, listened to music, ran desktop applications and Windows apps, and watched video. The Surface Pro 3’s power charger, which neatly sticks to the device with a magnetic connector, shines a bright white LED when it’s plugged into a wall outlet. But there’s no light on the tablet to indicate the charging status of its built-in battery. By my estimate, it took about 3 hours to completely recharge.

Specs
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit
DISPLAY: 12 inch, 2160-by-1440 pixel
SCREEN: Multi-touch touchscreen with digital pen support
UNDER THE HOOD: Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 chip, 4 or 8 GB RAM; 64, 128, 256 or 512 GB SSD
CAMERAS: 5 MP front camera; 5 MP rear
CONNECTIVITY: MicroSD slot, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11ac/802.11 a/b/g/n
BATTERY: Up to 9 hours
WEIGHT: 1.76 lbs
DIMENSIONS: 11.5” x 7.93” x 0.36”
PRICE: Starts at $799; Type Cover: $129.99

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Microsoft may drag out layoffs for a year

Long periods of uncertainty about who goes, who stays, can corrode a company's morale

Microsoft yesterday said it could take as long as a year to lay off the 18,000 workers who will be eventually shown the door, making for a long, drawn-out morale-busting process that was criticized by both labor experts and industry analysts.

"I'm definitely not a fan," Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, said of the lengthy process.

"You owe it to your long-term Nokia and Microsoft employees to do it as quickly as possible," added Miller, who, like many of his colleagues the Kirkland, Wash.-based research firm, is a former Microsoft employee. "You also owe it to yourself to do it as cleanly and quickly as possible. The longer it drones on, the more randomized people get."

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (and an identical press release), Microsoft said it would "substantially complete" the layoffs by the end of this year, and that the process would be "fully completed" by June 30, 2015.

In its previous biggest layoff -- when it cut 5,800 jobs in 2009 -- Microsoft also took up to 18 months to finish the dismissals.

"They should have learned from 2009. Morale suffered," Miller said of the months of uncertainty when workers wondered whether they would be laid off.

Mini-Microsoft, an on-again, off-again blogger who is purportedly a current Microsoft employee, agreed with Miller in the first post to the website since former CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement nearly a year ago.

The 2009 layoff "was implemented so poorly, with constant worries and concerns and doubts about engaging in new ideas due to expectations those would be the easiest to trim during ongoing cut-backs," Mini-Microsoft wrote Thursday. "When was it over? When was the 'all clear' signal given?"

The blog went on to say, "If this truly drags on for a year: we need a new leader. This needs to be wrapped up by the end of July. 2014."

Comments on the blog expressed the hope that the ax would fall quickly. "When you take a [Band-Aid] off, you just grab hold and rip," wrote one person, voicing a sentiment echoed by dozens of anonymous commenters.

Other comments on the blog suggested that some layoffs had taken place immediately. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of those comments, however.

"Most of the follow-up emails I've seen suggest that it will be a quick process (C+E, OSG, Devices, etc.) for those in Redmond who should find out today if they are about to be axed," wrote another unidentified commenter. The writer was referring to Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise, Operating Systems and Devices groups, which are led, respectively, by Scott Guthrie, Terry Myerson and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

According to the state of Washington, Microsoft said it would eliminate 1,351 jobs in the state.
"I don't think it's a good thing to do," Wayne Cascio, a professor at the University of Colorado, Denver and an expert in human resources management -- specifically downsizing -- said in an interview about long layoffs. "It creates massive uncertainty and a big drop in productivity. People spend their work time on social networking and getting a resume up to date. And there's the very real risk that the company might lose the most valuable, and marketable, employees."

Anything company executives and managers can do to reduce uncertainty, which is the root cause of the disruption, is all to the good, Cascio added, for both those destined to receive a pink slip and those who will remain.

That uncertainty often leads to an often-overlooked phenomenon, said Cascio. "There's empirical research that has shown that a year after layoffs, the unanticipated turnover rate goes up," he said, explaining that, in such situations, many people who are spared the hatchet take the initiative and leave on their own for other jobs. "The larger the layoff, the more that rate goes up."

If a company normally has an annual turnover rate of 10%, it should expect a jump to 15% during the 12 months following a layoff, Cascio said.

Asked whether companies take that into account when they plan layoffs, Cascio said, "I don't even think they know about this."

Cascio acknowledged that in some instances a long layoff stretch can't be avoided. "Microsoft may not know how many to let go," he said. Other factors, including regulations in foreign countries where a company operates, can come into play as well.

He characterized the Microsoft layoff, which aimed to cut 14% of the company's workforce, as "large." Nationally, the average size of a layoff 10% to 11% of a company's workforce; anything over 20% is considered an "extreme" downsizing, Cascio said.

"People wonder what's going to happen, but they don't know," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research and head of U.S. business for Kantar WorldPanel Comtech. "Am I invested in the company or not? Is the company invested in me or not? There's a need for more clarity about what will happen."

"It's important that companies reduce the uncertainty, not only for the people laid off, but for those who remain," said Cascio. "Those who are staying will be looking for signals on how those laid off are treated."

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5 key takeaways from Amazon’s big cloud day

Amazon challenges Box with file share services, attempts to woo mobile app developers

Amazon Web Services continued to push the IaaS market forward today by challenging established cloud players like Box and Dropbox with the company’s own document collaboration platform and rolling out new features to its public cloud focused on supporting mobile applications.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from Amazon’s Summit in New York City today:

Amazon’s cloud targets mobile applications
Amazon launched a number of new features to optimize its cloud for hosting mobile apps. The main new product is named Cognito and it provides shortcuts for mobile application developers. The idea is that there are a variety of core features that many mobile apps need that do not differentiate the app from others, says AWS VP of Mobile Marco Argneti. These include the ability to save user profiles and provide support across multiple devices, and save the state of the app when a user changes devices. Cognito provides these services so that app developers don’t have to build them, and it allows the developers to focus on the truly differentiated features of their app. The logon credentials integrate with Facebook, Google and Amazon usernames and passwords. Here’s a video describing the service from Amazon:

The move shows that in addition to being at the forefront of hosting startups and enterprise workloads, AWS wants to be the place to host mobile apps, too. It also shows Amazon turning into more of an application development platform as a service (PaaS) and Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS). Amazon isn’t alone though. Microsoft has a robust set of tools for hosting mobile applications as well. Time Warner Cable’s NaviSite rolled out new Enterprise Mobility Management tools this week for managing mobile workforces, which VMware is heavily invested.

Amazon launches document collaboration and file sharing business
Amazon announced Zocalo, a new file storage, sharing and synchronization platform based on its popular Simple Storage Service (S3). Think of it as Box or Google Drive, but in Amazon’s cloud and aimed at the enterprise market. Through a slick web interface, users can upload a variety of files -- documents, PDFs, slides, spreadsheets and photos, among others -- and synchronize them across devices that have a Zocalo client installed on them. Users can share documents and can also provide and solicit feedback.

Improvements in 10GbE technology, lower pricing, and improved performance make 10GbE for the mid-market
The move puts Amazon in direct competition with some darlings of the consumer cloud marketplace, like Box and DropBox and puts Amazon head to head with Google, again (those two companies compete on the IaaS cloud platform too). The move follows Amazon’s launch of Workspaces, a virtual desktop tool it debuted last year.

Amazon targets, and shows off, enterprise customers
Perhaps equally as important as the new products launched were the portions of the keynote where Amazon customers shared their experiences using the company’s platform. One perception the company is attempting to overcome is that it is focused on startups and developers, but not enterprise users. One way to get more enterprise customers is to show nervous potentially customers that their peers are using your platform.

Vogels outlined how startup Airbnb - which processes 150,000 stays per night on its site - has grown from using about 400 Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) servers a year ago to now more than 1,300. The company has a five-person IT team that manages it all in Amazon’s cloud. Siemens, which had $5.5 billion in sales last year, uses Amazon’s cloud to process HIPAA-complaint diagnostic images. Publishing company Conde Nast is selling its data center and servers because it’s moving into AWS’s cloud. It’s one thing to have enterprise customers using your cloud-based platform in some small test and development capacity; it’s another for them to be shutting down data centers in favor of using the public cloud.

Amazon eats its partners
Another new product the company launched today is named Logs for CloudWatch. Last year Amazon released CloudTrail, which is a stream of information customers can sign up for that reports every action that is made in a user’s account. That information alone is not extraordinarily valuable because it needs to be processed in a way that makes sense. A variety of third-party AWS partners have taken that data and made applications out of it that customers can use to track their cloud usage and find unusual behavior. Today, Amazon rolled out some of those features themselves.

The point here is that Amazon continues to develop features in its cloud, even if it has partnering companies who do the same thing. AWS has done this before; it made life difficult for companies that had built up cost optimization tools when it launched its own service that does the same thing named Trusted Advisor. It can be tough being an Amazon partner; the key for these vendors is staying ahead of Amazon’s fast innovation cycle.

More than 10,000 people registered to attend Amazon Web Service’s Summit in New York Today.
One of the most notable aspects of the day was the amount of interest it drew. AWS said that more than 10,000 people registered to attend the event, which included a keynote by CTO Werner Vogels and then breakout sessions throughout the afternoon. Thousands of others watched a live stream. The biggest takeaway of all is that the cloud is real, and a lot of people are interested in it.

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8 technologies that are on the way out -- and one that we'll never be rid of

In the blink of an eye, a technology that's on top today can be made obsolete by the next big thing. Six futurists predict which of today's common technologies are headed for the scrap heap, and what will replace them.

Soon-to-be-obsolete technologies
If "change is the only constant" applies anywhere, it's in the world of technology. One day you're proud of knowing how to set your VCR, and the next your DVR is recording shows you didn't even know were on. Few would have guessed in 1980 that vinyl records would be obsolete in 15 years; fewer still would have predicted that CDs would in turn be obsolete a mere 10 years after that.

We asked a panel of experts to peer into the future and identify some business and consumer technologies that are on their way out -- and what will replace them. Here are eight technologies they say we'll soon see the back of, plus one that it looks like we'll be stuck with forever.

So long, smartphone
You saw this one coming: "The smartphone screen will disappear altogether due to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable technology," predicts Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at marketing communications firm JWT Worldwide. Indeed, research firm IDC forecasts that shipments of wearable devices like smartwatches and smart glasses will surpass 19 million units in 2014, and that the global market will reach nearly 112 million units in 2018.

But today's wearables will themselves be swept aside by more sophisticated devices, according to Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research. "Next, the top button on my shirt is actually a computer interface to my cloud," he says. "Google Glass will end up a niche product like Segway."

ery personal tech
Why stop with just wearing our tech, when we can have it embedded into our bodies? From implanted RFID chips being used to unlock doors to bionic ears and eyes, pioneers are already exploring the potential of "transhumanism."

"In 20 years it'll be hard to tell where the person ends and the computer begins," says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. We'll see smarter prosthetics and military applications well before then, he adds, but it'll take a couple decades for embedded devices to become mainstream. "Health, religious and privacy concerns will slow its adoption."

Mo' betta mobile power
Batteries are ubiquitous in today's device-ridden, mobile world. But we're all familiar with their drawbacks: They're heavy, take a long time to charge and provide a toxic disposal challenge.

"Batteries will be replaced by supercapacitors [a.k.a. ultracapacitors], most likely, or fuel cells as more efficient ways to store and provide energy," says Enderle. Supercapacitors operate like regular capacitors but can store much more energy. They're expensive and don't (yet) hold as much energy per weight as standard batteries, but they charge almost instantly and can last through a million or more charge/discharge cycles.

"They'll be supplements within 5 years, and mass replacements should occur within 10 years," Enderle predicts. "The need is critical to many markets like consumer electronics, defense and automotive."

No more clicking or typing
Say goodbye to your mouse and keyboard. They will yield to "an intelligent interface that uses voice, gestures and other commands," says William Halal, Professor Emeritus of Management, Technology & Innovation at George Washington University. "Touch and other inputs may be included, of course. But the mouse and keyboard will likely be used only by techies and those doing serious computing, and the old GUI is likely to yield to these more natural interfaces."

But Enderle thinks there will be some resistance to this change. "We really don't like learning new ways of doing things," he says, "and something like this will likely be driven by the youth market. Ten years is the likely time frame, but it could take 20."

Devices that talk -- to each other
Traditional buttons and switches are already disappearing from our gadgets and appliances, with everything from clock radios to multiroom music systems now controlled by smartphone apps. Future IoT-connected devices will require less of even that kind of interaction.

"Devices will be connected but also self-diagnosing and correcting," says Campbell. "If there's a problem with the dishwasher, the repair person can remotely fix the issue without ever contacting me."

We're not ready psychologically or legally to turn over that control, cautions Enderle. "Liability concerns will keep most of this from happening until you can get localized artificial intelligence to monitor the equipment," he says. "Otherwise, there's too much chance for a hacker to burn down the house. This'll take more than 15 years."

Big data meets security
Traditionally, security measures have tended to be reactive: IT modified the company's firewall settings after an intrusion, and anti-malware vendors updated their threat definitions after a threat had been identified.

"This approach will be replaced by predictive security," which uses data mining and analysis to track and anticipate cyber threats, says Jai Menon, vice president and chief research officer with Dell's Research division. Tools such as OpenDNS' Umbrella Security Graph are already helping researchers get out in front of attacks as they're unfolding.

Soon, Menon says, "we will start to develop countermeasures in advance, based on the prediction of new exploits." That approach will apply not just to external threats, but also to identifying and shutting down insider threats, he adds.

Big-picture security
Access to corporate systems is usually determined by defined roles, such as administrator, business user or guest. But future systems will take into account not only a person's role but "the device they're using, the current threat level, the security of the location from which access is requested and so on," says Menon. "Heuristics will monitor patterns of use, and if a user begins to do things 'out of character,' it will set off alerts."

Campbell from Nucleus Research predicts that a persistent, personal identity will also be part of the new security framework. "People will have a single identity for school, personal, corporate, etc. You won't add a new user to the corporate network but rather authorize someone's identity."

Mix 'n' match software
Many IT departments still develop custom applications for their users, but Menon says the practice will become largely extinct as application programming interfaces and packaged software services proliferate: "Salesforce provides 200,000 APIs; ProgrammableWeb is currently tracking more than 11,000 APIs; Google and Bitnami and Amazon Web Services provide hundreds. If you can't find a service that does what you want, you probably aren't looking hard enough." Companies will need developers who are expert at orchestrating APIs and packaged services, he adds.

"Application development has always gotten more containerized and off-the-shelf," agrees Campbell. "Code gave way to procedures which led to modules and then DLLs... but you'll still need to be clever to arrange those building blocks into something useful."

Technology's cockroach
When it comes to email, JWT's Mack speaks for many when she says, "There has to be a better way."

The problem comes when you try to replace it. It's easy to imagine a messaging service in a wearable or embedded device, but what about sending attachments? What about archiving? If you design an electronic messaging system that can send files, address multiple recipients and establish a permanent record, you end up with something a lot like email.

"Email will live on forever," says Campbell. "I'm willing to call it the cockroach of software. We may hate it, but it will be around until the end of time."

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Amazon teases launch of mysterious device with 50-second video

Amazon took to social media and YouTube Wednesday with a cagey promotion for an upcoming launch event, setting off rampant Internet speculation that its long-rumored smartphone is about to be announced.

"Join Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos for our launch event," the company said on Twitter. The event will be June 18 in Seattle, which is where Amazon is based.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be at launch event

The tweet included a 50-second YouTube video showing people's reactions to some kind of device they are holding. The video never shows the actual device.

Amazon has been rumored to be working on a smartphone with retina-tracking technology to make some objects appear in 3-D without the use of special glasses.

Some of the remarks in the video suggest that the device could have 3-D technology.

"It moved with me," one person said. Others moved their bodies or heads while holding the device.

A separate Web page for requesting an invitation to the event shows a cropped image of a sleek, black rectangular device with the Amazon logo on it. Amazon customers, developers and journalists can fill out the form to request an invitation.

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John Chambers
CEO and chairman, Cisco
An 80% raise boosted John Chambers’ compensation above $21 million last year. In 2012, the Cisco CEO received $11.7 million. The biggest gains came in the form of stock awards valued at $15.2 million (compared to $7.3 million in 2012). Chambers also received a $4.7 million cash bonus, and his salary rose from $375,000 in 2012 to $1.1 million in 2013.

Alain Monié
CEO, Ingram Micro
Alain Monié’s compensation was fairly consistent from 2012 to 2013 -- with one $5 million exception. His total pay in 2013 included his $876,923 salary (compared to $840,501 a year earlier), $1.4 million bonus (down from $1.6 million), stock awards valued at $5 million (up from $4.5 million), and $23,813 in perks and other compensation (compared to $34,169 in 2012). The big difference is an additional grant of option awards, valued at $5 million. The year before, Ingram Micro didn’t grant any option awards to Monié.

Jerry Kennelly
CEO and chairman, Riverbed
A jump in stock awards drove up Jerry Kennelly’s 2013 compensation, which was valued at $12.8 million. A year earlier, Riverbed’s CEO received $8 million. Kennelly’s 2013 pay included his $750,000 salary (up from $650,000), $751,853 bonus (up from $568,399), and stock awards valued at $11.3 million (up from $6.8 million in 2012).

Sanjay Mehrotra
CEO and president, SanDisk
A 60% raise -- largely in the form of a cash bonus -- brought Sanjay Mehrotra’s total pay up to $10.6 million last year. In 2012, the chief exec and co-founder of flash storage maker SanDisk received $6.7 million. Mehrotra’s 2013 package included his $946,134 salary (up from $880,769); $3.1 million bonus (up from $661,500); stock awards valued at $3.2 million (up from $2.4 million); option awards valued at $3.3 million (up from $2.7 million); and $100,218 in perks and other compensation.

John McAdam
CEO and president, F5
Last year delivered a $3 million boost for John McAdam, CEO of application delivery specialist F5. His 2013 pay package, valued at $8.3 million, included his $817,636 salary, $897,196 bonus, and stock awards valued at $6.5 million (up from $3.8 million a year earlier). In 2012, McAdam received a $5.2 million pay package.

James Bidzos
CEO, president and chairman, Verisign
Verisign boosted James Bidzos’ pay by 46% last year, with the gains showing up primarily in his bonus and equity awards. In 2013, Bidzos received $8.5 million, which included his $752,885 salary, $957,750 bonus (up from $593,550), and equity awards valued at $6.8 million (up from $4.5 million in 2012). In 2012, his pay was $5.9 million.

Shantanu Narayen
CEO and president, Adobe
A 31% raise drove Shantanu Narayen’s compensation up to $15.7 million last year. A year earlier, he made $12 million. His total package included a $941,667 salary, $1.6 million bonus, and $19,211 in perks and other compensation. Narayen also received stock awards valued at $13.1 million. That’s where he made the biggest gains; a year earlier, his equity awards were valued at $9.7 million.

An Internet of Things prediction for 2025 -- with caveats

A massive survey by the Pew Research Center about the Internet of Things in 2025 is very optimistic about the future of the technology. But even though the report seemingly tramples on IoT skeptics, its responses are filled with questions, doubts and caveats.

Some 1,600 people in the technology industry, academia, consulting, law and others with expertise on this issue were surveyed, and 83% agreed that the Internet of Things, embedded and wearable computing, will "have widespread and beneficial effects" by 2025. (Report PDF)

The report included a written response from Karl Fogel, a partner at Open Tech Strategies, which helps organizations run and launch open source projects. Fogel's note focused on wearables -- and was scalding: "No, yuck, we don't need this, and most people aren't asking for it."

Fogel, in an interview, wondered aloud about whether the Pew's 83% finding suffered from a bias. The people with the motivation to respond may also be promoting the IoT, he said.

"If you are a skeptic why would you bother answering the survey?" said Fogel, who said he only responded because he thought the report was interesting.

Lee Rainie, director of Pew's Internet Project, said the report is based on an opt-in survey, and that its thrust is qualitative rather than quantitative. While the overwhelming majority believe that IoT "will be a big force in the culture," the respondents did include a lot of caveats, he acknowledged.

Rainie said that even if respondents were positive, overall, about the IoT, many positioned their responses in the "yes, but" category.

Dave Clark, a senior research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, wrote that "the ability to put a scan tag on 'anything' will create a much more fluid and interwoven linkage between things in the 'real world' and their cyber-counterparts.

This ability will provide many conveniences and benefits. By analogy, GPS has created a world in which people no longer 'get lost.' A scannable world will be one in which people are always able to get information about essentially anything they encounter."

But Clark was more cautious about wearables.

"Devices like Google Glass may become popular, or may fail to prove their worth. But in more than 10 years, I suspect some sort of device that gives a cyber-overlay on the real world will be in use. I am ambivalent about this future," wrote Clark.

Bob Briscoe, chief researcher in networking and infrastructure for British Telecom believed industrial and health IoT applications, not consumer ones, are the most likely to take off.

"The most likely areas where the IoT will be realized will be in supply chain logistics and automating workforce administration -- i.e., dispensing healthcare, logging materials used in fitting and service of goods, vehicles, etc., as well as the administration of cleaning, catering, and hospitality tasks. Industrial and commercial applications are much more likely to have taken hold than these attention-grabbing consumer widgets, which have only superficial economic effect," wrote Briscoe.

Justin Reich, a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, wrote that the IoT "will have widespread beneficial effects, along with widespread negative effects."

"There will be conveniences and privacy violations," wrote Reich. "There will be new ways for people to connect, as well as new pathways towards isolation, misanthropy, and depression," he said.

Hal Varian, Google's chief economist, said in his response: "We will expect things to respond to vocal commands. We will be able to say 'TV, pause', 'lights, on', 'temperature, up', and so on. We will able to control our home systems remotely, particularly from our car. This technology will be so cheap that it will naturally be incorporated into most appliances and devices."

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