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I disagree with Mark.
I predict that Broadband over powerline is too slow (1-3Mbps) and too late. I predict it will be a failure. I hope both of my predictions are wrong! I'll take any technology that gives me affordable 10Mbps up and 1 Mbps back, cable, DSL, BPL, WiMax whatever!
From Mark Evans :: More Trouble for Telcos:
QUOTE
If
telecom carriers didn't have enough problems, the Federal
Communications Commission adopted rules earlier this week that will let
eletrical utilities provide high-speed Internet access services. This
is very troubling news for carriers - and cable companies, for that
matter - because high-speed access has been one of the few
high-growth/revenue generating markets. If electrical utilities decide
to get into the broadband powerline (BPL) game, it will no doubt mean
reduced consumer prices and fewer customers for carriers and cable
companies.
BPL works by connecting computers to the Internet
through electrical sockets. Using a specialized modem, computer users
can get speeds of one to three three megabits/second. So far, the
biggest roll-out of BPL has been done by Current Communications Group
and Cinergy Corp., which launched a service in March. To date, the
service has attracted more than 16,000 customers. The New York Times
reports that widespread BPL service will likely be avaiable for more
than a year.
UNQUOTE
Apple to start preloading?
When I used to work in music promotion, we talked a lot about pre-loading PCs or other devices with music videos and songs. Sippey did the best job of describing it, and now the Mac rumor sites are saying that Apple's going to announce a U2 preload next month.
When I was out visiting India in April 2004, I met with officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and they were busy at work, trying to come-up with a coherent broadband policy for India. I met with the then telecom minister, Arun Shorie, who is one of the smartest and perhaps the most patriotic of all Indians I know. We talked about broadband, and why it is crucial for India. He knew that Indians need broadband desperately, for it would create a lot of opportunities and would also help India stay competitive with its “global trade†rival China.
Since then a lot has happened. The government changed and India has a new telecom minister. Wireless market in India is on an upswing, and now finally a broadband policy has been put in place. So what do I think of the new policy? First of all the current government, despite its noises about free markets, has a socialist agenda, and is trying to protect the incumbent monopolies. In other words, it did not take TRAI recommendations (which I think is a political decision more than anything else) and decided not to unbundle the last mile. I think that is precisely the kind of mess we have in US, and Indians have copied the worst possible example of telecom/broadband regulation.
Way back in May 2002 InfoWorld reported on Akamai's EdgeSuite for Java, which does for Web services what a content delivery network does for content. It was an early vision then, and even today isn't widely implemented. Meanwhile we see lots of people asking whether we really need SOAP-based Web services. Reasonable people disagree, but my take is that we will need them. DNS redirection and HTTP proxying are potent techniques that will continue to give us plenty of mileage. But the notion of a Web services "fabric" -- with self-describing headers and payloads -- is potent too. Nobody will have to use that approach. But if you want the services you produce or consume to have certain properties -- e.g., security, availability, auditing, metering, billing -- you'll want those services to conform to the standards that enable the fabric to add such properties transparently.
Update: InfoWorld reports today on a couple of edge service announcements from Akamai and Speedera.
See this post as it first appeared on Blogware.