Re: Observations of an Internet Middleman (Level3) (was: RIP

[Blake Hudson <blake () ispn net>]

Certainly video is one of the most bandwidth intensive applications. I 
don't deny that a < 1 Mbps video call is both less common and consumes 
less bandwidth than an 8Mbps HD stream. However, if Americans had access 
to symmetric connections capable of reliably making HD video calls (they 
don't, in my experience), we might be seeing video calls as a common 
occurrence and not a novelty. I think the state of usage is a reflection 
on the technology available.

If the capability was available at an affordable price to residential 
consumers, we might see those consumers stream movies or send videos 
from their home or mobile devices via their internet connection directly 
to the recipient rather than through a centralized source like Disney, 
NetFlix, Youtube, etc. Video sharing sites (like youtube, vimeo, etc) 
primary reason for existence is due to the inability of the site's users 
to distribute content themselves. One of the hurdles to overcome in 
video sharing is the lack of availability in affordable internet 
connectivity that is capable of sending video at reasonable (greater 
than real time) speeds.

--Blake

Scott Helms wrote the following on 5/16/2014 11:02 AM:
> Blake,
>
> None of those applications come close to causing symmetrical traffic 
> patterns and for many/most networks the upstream connectivity has 
> greatly improved.  Anything related to voice is no more than 80 kbps 
> per line, even if the SIP traffic isn't trunked (less if it is because 
> the signaling data is shared).  Document sharing is not being 
> impinged, on my residential account right now I've uploaded about 30 
> documents this morning including large PDFs and Power Point presentations.
>
> Off site back up is one use that could drive traffic, but I don't 
> believe that the limiting factor is bandwidth.  We looked at getting 
> into that business and from what we saw the limiting factor was that 
> most residential and SOHO accounts didn't want to pay enough to cover 
> your storage & management costs.  In our analysis the impact of 
> bandwidth on the consumer side adoption was basically zero.  There is 
> no expectation that back ups run instantly.  Having said all of that, 
> even if hosted back up became wildly popular would not change the 
> balance of power because OTT video is both larger, especially for HD 
> streams, and used much more frequently.
>
>
> Scott Helms
> Vice President of Technology
> ZCorum
> (678) 507-5000
> --------------------------------
> http://twitter.com/kscotthelms
> --------------------------------
>
>
> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 11:53 AM, Blake Hudson <blake () ispn net 
> <mailto:blake () ispn net>> wrote:
>
>
>     Jay Ashworth wrote the following on 5/16/2014 10:35 AM:
>
>         ----- Original Message -----
>
>             From: "Mark Tinka" <mark.tinka () seacom mu
>             <mailto:mark.tinka () seacom mu>>
>             While that is true a lot of the time (especially for eyeball
>             networks), it is less so now due to social media. Social
>             media forces the use of symmetric bandwidth (like FTTH),
>             putting even more demand on the network,
>
>         Oh yes; clearly, Twitter will be the end of L3.
>
>         :-)
>
>         Could you expand a bit, Mark on "Social media forces the use
>         of symmetric
>         bandwidth"?  Which social media platform is it that you think
>         has a)
>         symmetrical flows that b) are big enough to figure into
>         transit symmetry?
>
>         Cheers,
>         -- jra
>
>     Applications like Skype and Facetime (especially conference calls)
>     would be one example where an application benefits from symmetric
>     (or asymmetric in favor of higher upload speed) connectivity.
>     Cloud office applications like storage of documents, email, and
>     IVR telephony also benefit from symmetrical connectivity. Off-site
>     backup software is another great example. Most residential
>     connections are ill suited for this. I believe these applications
>     (and derivatives) would be more popular today if the connectivity
>     was available.
>
>     --Blake