Broadband technology will change all the rules

Broadband, Never before in our history has the development of broadband technologies held such an importance to society. The broadband communications industry is in the infancy stage of development and we already are seeing technologies create change, both positive and negative. But what we have seen is the potential of how we will live, communicate, exchange, expand and think. The world now has a common tool to solve the issues that we face and the benefits are beyond our expectations.

Broadband is defined as a transmission medium capable of supporting a wide range of frequencies including voice, data and video. Broadband is designed to provide voice, video and data services across one medium, accessible by all. What this means to your tenants is that a single connection can provide them with almost every form of communication they need to operate their business.

Companies are racing to build broadband networks to be able to provide these services, and are combining both land-based and wireless technologies to do so. The confusion around which is better, faster and more cost effective really comes down to what is right for you and your building.

A new trend in "last mile" service providers called BLEC's, or "in-building" providers have emerged in the past year. Each company is trying to distinguish itself from the other so it is important to understand the difference.

The quality of the networks, time to "light" the building, services offered and company stability are the factors to consider. Compensation varies from the providers but include revenue share, fixed access fees, and warrants. The access agreement these providers use are non-exclusive and terms range from five to ten years. But don't let your decision rely on who is giving the most compensation or has the most relationships.

The providers have made it a race to acquire access but are slow to actually perform on those agreements, which leave your buildings and tenants endlessly waiting when others could have serviced them. In addition, the warrants from those companies aren't going to be as valuable as you had hoped. Find the providers that will meet installation time timetables to light the building. Also, be careful not to let the providers "cherry" pick your properties resulting in some of your locations not being serviced.

There is no one size fits all theory with broadband. One segment of these providers focus on land-based fiber optic infrastructures and others that focus on fixed wireless technologies to service the building. Making the right decision can propel your tenants to levels of success unthinkable just a few years ago. Once you determine which providers will wire your property, it is then up to the tenant to decide which is best for them and what type of technologies to subscribe to. One thing to understand is that for all the benefits that "fiber" based companies present, and there are a number, there are some technical limitations that severely limit their impact.

The vast majority of businesses, no matter the size, use 100 megabit Ethernet wiring in their internal network. A single strand of fiber has the capability to provide 4,000 times greater capacity than the business can accept and justifying the need for such capacity has become increasingly challenging for the fiber-based providers. Additionally, new technologies are being created to use existing infrastructures to provide higher capacities to the end users such as DSL.

Fundamental to any provider is not to force the end user to incur significant additional costs to be able to subscribe to their services. Companies like Lucent are developing technologies that will significantly increase the capacity of existing wiring thus reducing the need for companies to upgrade their networks to accept fiber connections. With so many companies focusing on this "last mile" space, it is inevitable that some will have to change their strategies to see a return on their infrastructure investment.

Technologies that can benefit the fiber based service providers' strategies are starting to emerge. Voice and Video Over IP will be the first of the new IP based services that businesses will subscribe to on a widespread basis. Voice Over IP is the technology that will enable businesses to use the Internet to place and receive calls at a much greater discount than traditional Telco networks. The problem with VOIP is that the quality of the call is not yet at a commercially acceptable level and thus businesses are reluctant to subscribe to the services. Video Over IP will also benefit these fiber network providers but businesses are slow to subscribe to video services for their offices. Video conferencing will emerge as the first Video Over IP service accepted by the commercial marketplace. The other transport medium proving successful is wireless.

Wireless companies use networks that include Cellular, PCS, licensed and unlicensed technologies. However, separating wireless from land-based providers is difficult because wireless companies must combine land-based networks with their own to provide their services. Although wireless facilities are being deployed with enormous speed, they do not cover the entire landscape needed to provide service to everyone. There are limitations on wireless transmission such as line of site requirements and environmental conditions that restrict its ability to cover long distances. New technologies such as wireless optical lasers are making huge strides in overcoming those limitations. Wireless companies do provide some benefits over their land-based counterparts.

Wireless networks deploy faster and resolve capacity issues in a fraction of the time. Additionally, prices are more competitive because of the lower cost to deploy wireless networks over land-based. Besides providing primary Internet connectivity to your company, wireless technologies can make your tenant's workforce more flexible, productive and efficient.

The next stage of wireless technologies will include access to the web, email, intranets (company's internal servers and databases) and a host of online productivity applications provided by Application Service Providers (ASP). Access to these servers will be on personal communication devices such as web phones or laptops with mobile modems. These devices use Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) to distribute information across mobile networks. The download speeds at this time are between 9K and 150K, but speeds of 2 mbps will be available in the near future.

We will also see a number of companies offering high speed transport using fixed satellite technologies that will allow two way satellite distribution of voice, Video and data services. This transport medium resolves a number of wireless limitations such as line of site and distance. It will also bring these previously unavailable technologies to all areas of the globe.

Companies do not have the internal resources to identify, contract and integrate these new technologies. As a result, the BLEC's have started relying on outside integration firms to help their clients integrate their services and provide on-site support. The benefit of these firms, such as KPMG, IBM and Aptegra, are essential in an environment where the right decision can provide tremendous benefits but the wrong can cause irreparable damage.

Choosing the right provider for your building is essential. Ensuring they are capable of supporting your tenant's needs without overextending their own capabilities is what to look for. The best providers are deploying multiple technologies through their network to take advantage of future trends without foregoing their immediate survivability. The number of technologies and providers are enormous and they will continue to expand. Don't jump in; it is important not to get caught up in the hype surrounding broadband so you can make the right decision.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group