Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Could the Internet Ever Brownout?

I can remember the widespread panic a few years back when major metropolitan areas around the U.S. began to experience brownouts during peak load times. Mainly, the media focused on California cities where they simply couldn't build power plants fast enough to keep up with demand. There was panic in the streets. Could such a staple of life be so fickle? So unreliable? Then, just as quickly as it came, the problem was solved and most forgot about it.

Well, the fear hasn't gone away, it's just shifted focus. Today, analysts and so-called experts are postulating as to when the global backbone of the Internet will meet it's match in bandwidth demand. Researchers at Nemertes Research actually presented a theory (in 2007) that bandwidth demand would outgrow network capacity by 2010. Well, it's 2009 and I don't believe anyone is truly nervous about that prospect.

In fact, in a much more recent article from TMC.net, the issue raised is not global network backbone, it's actually local network access. DSL, cable, frame relays, and a slew of T1's are bringing more and more people online at an alarming rate, but can the local networks handle it? Gary Kim believes the wildcard that could save us all may turn out to be wireless broadband.

"wired broadband supply increases linearly, obviously posing some risk if access demand grows non-linearly."

But if local broadband access meets a crunch time,

"New broadband wireless capacity can be turned up much more quickly than wired broadband can."

I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, the only thing I think the author, Gary Kim, has overlooked is the fact that this is already happening all over America. Anytime a c-store goes up on a highway in the middle of nowhere, the access demand for that specific location has indeed grown beyond the ability for wireline providers. Sure, it doesn't make headline news because it's not a community of millions in a high-profile California city. The proof is, nonetheless, in the pudding.

Enter Accel Networks. Fixed Wireless Broadband from Accel is used every day to ramp up broadband access in an otherwise "under-served" area (i.e. unable to connect via anything wired). With no copper cable laid at all, Accel has stores online in as little as a week, including layer 2 security. Wildcard, Mr. Kim? I do beleive you're onto something.

Labels: Broadband, Coverage, Fixed Wireless Broadband