Business

Saturday March 21, 2009

From snail’s pace to lightning speed


Imagine this. You are ill and you want a second opinion from a doctor in the United States or India. This can easily be done in minutes provided there is high-speed broadband access. One can sit comfortably at home and consult a doctor in another part of the world online.

In short, the luxury of wider bandwidth and speedy Web access will make a world of difference and bring benefits to people, regardless of where they are or what they want, revolutionising the way they communicate, entertain and educate.

What a stark difference from the early days of the Internet, when the speed was as good as snail’s pace.

Based on data from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the first commercially available modem for computers, the Bell 103, operated at 300 bits per second in 1964. Speeds rose to 2,400 bits per second by 1989, and grew to about 28.8kbps in 1995.

It was only in the middle of this decade that users adopted broadband speeds of up to 1.5Mbps. Still many in Malaysia are on the 56kbps bandwidth.

Increasingly, however, billions are being pumped into building next-generation networks to enhance access speed from 50Mbps to over 100Mbps. Malaysians are hungry for enhanced broadband services but much of that will also depend on pricing.

“We have seen the boom in SMS (short messaging service) and the next frontier is data. Once people get hooked on to the Internet, they will just want more speed.

“Faster broadband means that a file that takes 60 minutes to download on a typical 3Mbps broadband connection only takes 3.6 minutes on a 50Mbps broadband connection. If you give 1Mbps to someone who is used to 56kbps dial-up, you will see him jumping with joy. Speed is contagious,’’ says an observer.

New next-generation network services

● Video-on-Demand

It will revolutionise video distribution. Consumers will be able to download full-length feature films in minutes. This functionality also facilitates higher-quality video streaming from services such as YouTube, Hulu, ABC, CNN, Netflix, and many others.

● IPTV

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is when the television service is delivered interactively to the home via broadband connection. Consumers will no longer be limited by the notion of a fixed television schedule or a limited number of channels.

IPTV is the telephone company’s alternative to the cable or satellite TV company’s subscription TV service and it means more competition for television delivery.

● Video-Conferencing

Whether you are using a Web camera connected to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call or a more sophisticated desktop video-conferencing device, it will add two-way video to the old-fashioned phone call and this gives a new meaning to “face-to-face” communications across the globe.

● Tele-medicine

Broadband will make possible new life-saving or enhancing technologies and services in the medical field, says Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). It allows for instant contact between health professionals and patients, remote patient monitoring and diagnosis, and more efficient management of chronic diseases, especially for citizens who live in remote areas without access to specialists or urban medical care.

● Education

Let’s not talk about the smart school programme in the country, experts say. They say a lot more can be done once high-speed broadband is operational.

The next-generation network (NGN) has the potential of transforming how education is delivered, supporting distance learning, enhancing the ability to perform research for everyone from elementary level to astrophysicists and expanding the set of resources that academic institutions can readily access, says ITIF.

● Powering businesses

Online banking, outsourcing, e-procurement and video-conferencing are common. In current times, when containing cost is critical, companies can use information technology more than ever and save costs.

Information and communication technology is also crucial for competitiveness of small businesses and large corporations alike. NGN can also contribute to the development of new business models, services, and forms of corporate organisation besides empowering small and home-based businesses.

● E-Government

Malaysia’s government has a lot of initiatives of interacting with its citizens but it can ride on a higher speed network once HSBB is available.

Related stories:

Speeding up broadband

Investing in next-generation networks

Co-existing with TM

Better-priced packages on the cards

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