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Home Solutions Community Broadband Networks Community Broadband Network Customers |
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Community Broadband Network Customers Residential Broadband Broadband-to-the-Home is still a new concept for most of the world. However, the momentum is gaining for this exciting new marketplace. Today, most homes that connect to the Internet do it via modems on the standard telephone lines. In this environment, only, at most, 56 Kilobits per second of bandwidth is typically available. This is enough for some simple web browsing, but eliminates any other application. More and more, consumers are driven to use the web for many new tasks, ranging from shopping to sharing pictures with the family across the country, to Internet gaming. These new applications require higher speed connectivity, which, in turn, requires a broadband access network. To satisfy this demand, the provider must create a cost-effective high-speed network with a simple access technology. Once this new broadband network begins to take shape, the availability of bandwidth, whether it be a few hundred Kilobits or even 15 Megabits to the home enables many new types of services, which previously were impossible, such as Video-on-Demand, or even Video-telephony. Business Networking As local businesses grow, they often acquire new locations and new and remote offices. This presents a whole new set of concerns about keeping the business running efficiently with many physical locations. In a connected community, local businesses can leverage the high-speed network for interconnections between their facilities. Today, these connections are handled by frame relay and T1 services. However, as the bandwidth requirements for these businesses grow, and as they begin to need more capabilities from their service provider, they will begin to use direct Ethernet or even Wavelength services to interconnect, requiring more sophisticated networking technology in the community. One typical example of this growth process is the recent introduction of the “Clicks-and-Mortar” business model, where local businesses provide a significant on-line presence, including e-marketing and e-commerce, but continue to operate the store locations. This model has been deployed successfully by many small businesses to take advantage of the new on-line marketplace without betting the farm on a new endeavor. Of course, the on-line shopping experience is critical to ensuring the success of such a model. To make the experience a positive one, both the consumer and the business need to be connected with high-speed, secure access. As another important example, consider a regional hospital that has recently built a new facility. It is likely that many large images and videos must be sent from servers in the old building to doctors’ offices in the new building, and from labs in the new building back to servers in the old. If, for example, a doctor needed to view a 30 Megabyte file, a T1 connection would take 3 minutes to transfer the data. A 100 Megabits Ethernet connection would take around 3 seconds! Similarly, a single streaming MPEG video would consume nearly all the available bandwidth on the T1 connection, but take around 1% of the bandwidth on a 100Mbps line. Since a local access network may provide simple high-speed Internet access, or full Virtual Private Networking services to a multi-facility Enterprise, the network must be scalable and low cost, while at the same time being flexible enough to handle a variety of services. Local Government Once a local area, whether it is metropolitan, suburban, or even rural, is connected with a high-speed network, the local government can dramatically expand its services, and reduce the cost of providing these services to its constituents. New types of access, like on-line vehicle registration, or access to current traffic conditions, allow the local government to communicate better with its constituents and provide better access to all the services offered. Some communities are even implementing a new brand of court TV. Inmates who "approach the bench" face a camera lens. In the new program, judges and magistrates conduct court proceedings remotely through high-speed videoconferencing technology that links courthouses and jails. Persons charged with crimes use the system for initial court appearances or arraignments. They are escorted to a room within the jail complex that is equipped with a digital TV monitor and microphone. Magistrates at county courthouses also have similar video monitors. Special document cameras record signatures and legal papers. This idea speeds up the justice system, and improves security at the same time. With a connected community, new types government services, previously unknown, can be implemented to save taxpayer dollars and improve the local quality of life. Education Universities have long been active in the high-speed connectivity business. Perhaps nowhere is the advantage of a connected community clearer than in the impact on the educational system. In the K-12 system educators are embracing project-based learning techniques. By using the Internet, students may explore a subject at their own pace, and communicate with experts around the world. Current materials, available on the Web, can supplement out-of-date textbooks. Teachers can use the Web to find curriculum and tap the wisdom of master teachers, or find projects done elsewhere that may be helpful to their own students. Only with high-speed access can these capabilities be implemented, providing a huge boon to teachers and students alike. Continuing in their high-tech tradition, Universities are using the Internet as a classroom, providing syllabi, course material and even lectures on-line to complement the on-campus activities. A secure connection from student to faculty even allows on-line registration and grade-access. If the local community has access to a high-speed network, the quality of this sort of education is greatly enhanced, allowing the University to grow its student base and improve its education process. To find out more about MRV solutions for Community Broadband Networks, contact your local MRV sales representative at sales@mrv.com. |
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