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2) Increased Communication Bandwidth
Corporate users generally have a better experience than home users, as they can
access the Web through higher speed corporate networks and dedicated T1 or T3
data lines. The home user is still limited to the capability of the twisted-pair
copper phone line and the 19.2kbps modem which is currently available.
The fact that most Web users today spend on average 80% of their on-line time
idle makes for a very inefficient use of the Web.
There is a tremendous amount of activity in the telecommunications arena, all
aimed at essentially making bandwidth virtually unlimited. Cable companies are
upgrading their plant infrastructure to deliver digital information over the coaxial
cable which today is delivering only analog TV broadcast. Modem manufacturers
are gearing up on producing cable modems. The RBOCs (regional Bell operating
companies) are all offering new services based on more efficient modulation
schemes delivered over existing copper wiring. These include ISDN and ADSL,
which will improve communication speeds by up to 30 times the 19.2kbps speeds
supported currently.
The buildout of the long haul network (SONET) backbones based on ATM,
running over fiber optic communication cables is underway. As the reach of fiber
optic cable gets closer to the home and the workplace (FTTH, FTTC), speeds of
communicating data will increase by more than 2 orders of magnitude.
Users will reach optimal efficiency, at which time they will spend little of the
current 80% of their time waiting on the network to serve up the information they
seek. This element will contribute a factor of 4x or 5x to the increase in Website
activity levels.
3) Ubiquitous Access to the Web
A fully web-capable PC now costs about $1,000, including all of the software
needed to connect to the Web. Companies such as AT&T have announced
virtually free connection access to the Web, which previously cost $200 to $300
per year. In current dollar terms, PCs are less expensive than color TVs were at
that point in time when color TVs became ubiquitous appliances in the home. In
addition, the process of getting connected to the Web has been greatly simplified
with the emergence and acceptance of plug-and-play standards, as well as tightly
bundled packages that offer the full set of services needed to connect to the Web
as a user or a Website. ISPs (Web Service Providers) have proliferated and will
provide full turnkey system connection via a single point of contact. These
advancements have significantly dropped the barrier of getting connected to the
web.
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The Aria Architecture Page 5 Andromedia, Inc.
White Paper July 1996