Why do we need Big Broadband?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Date: September 28, 2005 2:21:50 PM EDT
To: Farber Dave <dave () farber net>
Cc: Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Subject: Why do we need Big Broadband?


Dave,

Please consider for  IP

Thanks,

Jock

Why do we need Big Broadband?

There are now emerging a number of reasons we will soon demand Big  
Broadband. Participatory Culture and their open source project DTV  
and most especially their Broadcast Machine is but one.

Broadcast Machine is software you install on your website to easily  
publish video files and create internet TV channels. Broadcast  
Machine gives you the option of using torrent technology to reduce or  
eliminate bandwidth costs, even when you are posting high quality  
video to thousands of people. It is free, open source software, and  
is designed for easy installation. Broadcast Machine features an  
intuitive interface, integrated torrent creation, and flexible  
channel management. It also creates a browsable archive of videos on  
your website. Broadcast Machine is the prefect publishing tool for  
making channels that work with DTV: Internet TV.

A second, but not yet released, driver of demand for Big Bandband  
will be Six Apart's Project Comet. The goal of the project is to  
bring multi-media "webblogging into the mainstream."

A third, but more conventional, driver of demand for Big Broadband  
will be Super HD [4K TV]. This is the best TV today's technology can  
deliver. It requires 1.2 gigabits per second. But hey, we all want  
the best.

At the same time that these developments are emerging, the cost of  
connectivity is dropping significantly. One gigabit of connectivity  
that sold at wholesale for $20,000 per month in July of 2004 now  
sells for just $13,000 per month. This is an amazing reduction of 35%  
in just one year. Consider also that well over half the fiber optic  
strands already in place in America is still unused, or "dark fiber".  
It is simply waiting to be lit.

Taken together, these developments have very serious implications for  
a remarkable growth in demand for upstream bandwidth. Imagine if only  
10% of the U.S. population, using the Broadcast Machine or Project  
Comet, took to uploading creative video works on a regular basis.  
Sudenly we would have 30 million new TV "channels". Suppose our  
educational system started to require students to create projects  
using full multi-media? How many student TV stations would that  
create as they sought to share their projects with teachers, friends  
and family members scattered far and wide? What happens when students  
want to use Super HD for their productions?

Could this happen? My guess is that 10% is a low estimate. Why?

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Continues at: <http://www.greaterdemocracy.org/archives/000418.html>


Jock Gill
The Power of Wireless
Cooperative gain from collective behaviors at the edges
(781) 396-0492





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