Computers Today, May 1-15, 2000; Telecom; Get Ready for the Gale

May 1-15, 2000 TELECOM

BROADBAND NETWORKS
Get Ready for the Gale

Broadband services will stimulate development of new applications that can dramatically change the Internet as we know today and, more importantly, how we live and work.

By Sudhir Chowdhary

Consider this: every minute, 5 million E-mail messages are sent; every hour, 35 million voice mail messages are left; every day 50,000 people sign up for wireless service, joining 200 million worldwide; every day 37 million log on to the Internet; every week, 6,30,000 phone lines are installed; and every 100 days, Internet traffic doubles.

Think of it as the wind. You can't see the moving air but you can hear the roar. And the effects are evident as it is just now starting to gust through the Internet. It's powered by a series of technologies that allow a user to send and receive data at volumes and speeds far greater than the current 28.8 or 56 Kbps analogue modem rates. At least three big competing technologies will swirl through the landscape. They are generically known as "broadband" access services and they exist at speeds of 144 Kbps-at the low end-and above. Even skeptics agree that these fast Internet connections could eventually sweep away the Internet as we know it. By unclogging the pipes into the home and the office, broadband will enable a whole new generation of Internet-based services built on bandwidth-hogs such as streaming video.

By offering connections that are always on-no logging on or off-broadband will wire customers, friends and families together more tightly than ever before. Faster access will pave the way for even more highly sophisticated, feature-rich means to work, to buy, to educate and to entertain-to name just a few of the possibilities.

"Broadband services will ultimately change the Internet as we know it today," says Rati C. Thanewala, vice president, network planning solutions, Bell Laboratories. "Once broadband access services are widely available, it will stimulate development of new applications that can dramatically change how we live and work."

But that's the catch-the "widely available" caveat. Broadband services are not widely available today. Less than 1 million homes are wired with either cable modems or digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, which delivers faster access over telephone lines. And even though a ZDNet survey found that some 20 million American adults want to get broadband access to the Internet within the next year, chances are that most of them are going to be disappointed.

Drivers for Bandwidth

Closer home, India's terrestrial communications infrastructure is struggling with the demand for quality Internet provision, and many Internet service providers (ISPs) are now trying to fill this gap. These ISPs aim to provide reliability, flexibility and speed to deploy value-added systems. While these will inevitably be more expensive than the service offered by the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), the ISPs hope that quality of service will be the differentiating factor. The applications driving demand for bandwidth and quality of service include E-commerce, distance-learning, remote working, user-roaming and integration with fax and pager networks. To facilitate this, the Government is at last getting serious about widespread Internet usage. It has set the ball rolling for setting up a National Internet Backbone (NIB)-a network of Internet nodes over the length and breadth of the country to provide seamless connectivity to ISPs. "Many of the current connectivity and bandwidth problems are expected to be resolved once this backbone comes into place," said Prasad Medury, managing director, SGI-India. The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) will be using the NIB-a network of communication links that is capable of transporting large volumes of information at fast speeds-to offer a complete suite of Net services to its customers.

According to DOT officials, the NIB will act as a transmission media to carry the Internet traffic, both government and private, and act as a facilitator for ISP-to-ISP interconnection within the country besides facilitating roaming. The NIB is proposed to have a three-tier structure. The first tier would consist of large stations with high capacity digital trunks with highest level of redundancy. Type B and C nodes shall be smaller nodes with lesser access requirements. The total targeted number of such nodes is 549. In addition, the DOT proposes to have remote access server-to-server Internet dial-up subscribers in 45 locations consisting of 14 type A nodes and 31 type B nodes in the first phase. The NIB is expected to serve about 1 million subscribers by the end of 2000. The estimated cost of setting up NIB, along with equipment for the 45 nodes, is approximately Rs 86 crore that is to be met from the internal finances of the DOT. The NIB is expected to come into force soon.

Then there is the Sankhya Vahini project, a national high-speed inter-university datacom network. The total investment for this project is pegged around Rs 1,000 crore. Though currently embroiled in a controversy, this was to be a joint venture between Department of Telecom Services (DTS), Carnegie Mellon University, Indian Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad), Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) and the six Indsian Institutes of Technology. The proposed network, dedicated exclusively to data communications, will form a 10,000-mile national backbone at speeds over 1,000-10,000 times currently available in the country.

This backbone with high bandwidth above 2.5 GBPS would meet the data communications needs of other organisations in commercial, financial and manufacturing sectors and also ISPs. The proposed bandwidth would place India on par with the US and other technologically advanced nations in the world.

The Offerings

Meanwhile, around the world, major network operators-cable and telephone companies-are adding broadband-access technology to their networks. On the other side of the equation is what broadband can offer to its users. The places where fast access has been implemented offer a tangible glimpse at broadband's impacts and potentials such as these:

Always on connections. One immediate result of subscribing to a cable modem or DSL service is that it's always on. The connection is either dedicated, in the case of DSL, or shared, in the case of a cable modem. But in either case, your PC is always ready for surfing-no need to dial up an ISP or corporate server.

Adding audio/video to a broadband data link. Audio- and video-based contents become much easier to access, either through video streaming technology or faster downloads to PC-based audio/video players. In a broadband world, video will be used for E-commerce, allowing customers to see much more than the static pictures being used today.

The wired home. Broadband access is also a key to a new level of home automation. Products are being developed that will tie home appliances-heating, air conditioning, TVs, stereos, lights, security systems-to a Web interface, so you could remotely manage your home environment. In addition, the system can send information directly to a home appliance, allowing a weather report, say, to prompt your air-conditioner to turn off and on.

Cable Rides the Wave

The cable industry has been the most aggressive in offering two-way broadband access. According to Kagan analyst Ellis, there were around 1.6 million cable modem subscribers by the end of 1999, a number that will grow to 7.3 million by 2003. Cable modems are installed by cable company technicians and connect subscribers to a network that operates the same way as the local-area networks (LANs) connect personal computers in most of the workplaces. But the total amount of bandwidth-say up to 10 Mbps-is shared by all the users.

To date, cable operators are using proprietary modems. But that could begin to change by late this year, when the first modems built to a new industry negotiated standard, known as DOCSIS (data over cable systems interface specifications), is available in the market. The DOCSIS modems have a standard interface intended to work with any cable modem service.

In India, however, the scenario at the moment look depressing for not many cable operators have come forward to launch this service. It is likely to take some time before our desi cable operators take to the technology in a big way.

DSL: Dedicated, if You Can Get it

By contrast, DSL is a direct, private connection to an ISP. But it's also much harder to get. The most aggressive deployment of DSL is aimed at small businesses. Across the US, smaller companies are collectively wiring dozens of cities and selling services wholesale to ISPs and other local exchange carriers. They offer symmetric DSL, meaning it runs the same speeds in both directions, and typically starts at 1,44,000 bps and includes services at 364 Kbps, 722 Kbps and 1 Mbps. Surprisingly, the Bell companies haven't been as aggressive in pushing DSL, although that's changing. They're also working to overcome one of DSL's chief limitations-its inability to reach customers who live more than three miles from a central office. Since many potential customers live beyond the three-mile mark, phone companies and their equipment vendors are pushing to find solutions.

The Wireless Advantage

Amid the heated rivalry between the telephone and cable companies, there is quietly emerging a third contender: high-speed wireless connections. They're capable of speeds up to 1 Mbps. Wireless broadband actually comes in two forms. First are the fixed wireless systems, operating at 28 GHz and more, that network operators are putting into place to serve the business market. The second is a new technology. It allows a single point on a network to connect to multiple antennas, creating a way to provide high-speed data-and voice services-to customers without having to lease capacity from the local phone company or build out a wired network. In short, it is cheap-and fast-to deploy. Interest in wireless technology is rising.

MCI WorldCom, NextLevel Communications and Sprint have all recently acquired broadband wireless companies. Equipment vendors are lining up for what they expect to be a major new market. In the last 18 months, such big companies as Harris Corp., Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems have all acquired fixed broadband wireless technology. What's more, a third-generation cellular system, known as 3G, will offer wireless access at megabit speeds, not to mention the added benefit of mobility. Although late to the broadband party, wireless options could easily catch up.

Issue Contents Write to us Subscriptions Syndication

� Living Media India Ltd