IP Democracy: What Bandwidth Apocalypse? Verizon Tests 100 Gbps

AT&T-backed Internet Innovation Alliance has sponsored a study by Nemertes Research which concludes that unless broadband providers invest $55 billion in their networks, the Internet might slow to a crawl by 2010. Of course, shrewd observers see this research for what it is: less a reasoned warning and more a lobbying tool to justify pro-carrier public policy initiatives.

According to a press release, the study predicts that brownouts or interruptions could occur as high-bandwidth Internet usage soars. Even worse, when the Internet does function, it might be a pain to use. "It may take more than one attempt to confirm an online purchase or it may take longer to download the latest video from YouTube," Nemertes warns.

Oh yeah? Tell that to Verizon, which today announced it has successfully completed the industry's first field test of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) optical transmission. Verizon tested the transmission from Tampa to Miami using a live video feed from the telco's FiOS video service.

Granted, the test was conducted over Verizon's business network and no doubt AT&T, the Internet Innovation Alliance and Nemertes Research could argue that private business networks get all the investment capital needed because they are not regulated the same way as other networks. Still, Verizon concluded that the test "demonstrated that by deploying advanced electronics, an existing network system can easily and quickly [emphasis added] be upgraded to 100Gbps."

It seems to me that perhaps the Internet Innovation Alliance might do well to hook up with Verizon. Perhaps the two could figure out a way to dodge the 2010 brown-outs, slow-downs and sluggish YouTube loads.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 19, 2007 9:31 PM to IP Democracy