Tag Archives: Odlyzko
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
Broadband QoSE rising on the public agenda
It is nice to know that we at LIRNEasia have been ahead of the curve on Broadband QoSE, including on understanding it as more than simply download speed. Professor Gonsalves’s paper on the subject is here.
The NYT today carried a story that says many of the things we have been talking about for the past two years.
Tracking the speed of Internet service is becoming more and more important as everyone asks the Internet to do more than handle e-mail messages and Web pages. A few lines of text can take its time arriving, but applications sending voice calls or streaming video become unusable if there is too much delay in delivery.
Some Web sites and software packages let users test the speed of data through their Internet service provider, or I.S.P. All the providers offer a glimpse at the quality of the connection, but that information is just one bit of data; each new request for a Web site or a file involves dozens of computers, and any of them could be a weak link.
“Even in Web browsing, pages are getting more complicated,” Professor Odlyzko said. “You click on a link and you end up setting ..read more
What should we fear, the exaflood or the data drought?
In all networks, there is a perpetual debate about the growth of whatever flows across it (data, voice telephony, traffic. electricity) and what levels of investment are most appropriate for carrying the future load without deterioration of quality. This debate is going on now, about the Internet and the load likely to be placed on it by proliferating video, the so called exaflood. But then, profits are essential for investment. The quote below is about a data drought that could drive down profits and cause all kinds of bad things to happen.
Panic over, then? Not quite. Perversely, the real threat may come from a reduction in internet-traffic growth, says Dr Odlyzko. Too little internet traffic, he contends, could prove to be more dangerous to the industry than too much. A traffic-growth rate of 50%, combined with steady declines in equipment costs, means revenues are stagnant, “which is hardly a cheering prospect for the industry”. If traffic growth continues to fall—it is already below 10% in Hong Kong, where high-speed access is abundant—there will be slowing demand for faster connections from operators and new equipment from vendors. But if compelling new applications drive the growth rate back up to ..read more
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