Bandwidth

1
Bandwidth

• Rohan Brown
• Management Information Systems

2
Introduction

• Bandwidth is used to describe the amount of data
  actually carried on a link, while capacity is
  used to describe the potential amount of data
  that a link can carry
• Capacity is available bandwidth

3
Introduction cont.

• Bandwidth has been more generally used to refer
  to the measure of capacity of a given
  communications network link or transmission
  protocol.

4
Measurements

• The amount of bandwidth between sender and
  recipient determines how much data can be
  transmitted per unit of time
• It is measured in bits per second (bits/s) or
  Kbits/s, Mbits/s and so on.

5
Measurements cont.

• Bandwidth usage is identified in two equivalent
  units of measurement, average bits per second per
  month and gigabytes of material transferred per
  month.
• Translation between these two units of
  measurement usually uses a standard 30-day month
  and or a 10 bits per byte.

6
Cost

• The cost of bandwidth consists of two direct
  costs, the cost of the phone line used to connect
  to the backbone and the cost of the backbone
  access.
• Companies such as DigiLink Incorporated sells
  backbones and provides other companies with up to
  seven sources of access from their location

7
Innovations

• Changes are reshaping the communications industry
  worldwide in a major way.
• Telecommunications carriers in most developed
  economies are changing, or have changed, to
  digital transmission of voice
• Processing speeds have been doubling every 18
  months to two years since 1965, as predicted by
  Gordon Moore, who is a co-founder of Intel

8
Government

• Normally, governments have been focusing on
  telephony and broadcasting services
• In most countries monopoly providers, who have
  generally been public sector organizations, have
  provided telecommunications carriage.

9
Government cont.

• Many countries have opened their markets to
  competition, leading to substantial
  infrastructure investments
• The relative increase in data traffic as compared
  with voice traffic and the digitization of
  communications networks has eased a change in the
  design philosophy of such networks

10
Worldwide

• A new model for submarine cable is appearing,
  influenced by the limitations of club cable and
  the great business potential in this area due to
  the extraordinary growth in bandwidth.

11
Two new types of cable systems are emerging

• Carrier sponsored cables, which is privately
  implemented, but carrier maintained
• Private cable system, which is privately funded
  and operated by an independent company, which
  sells capacity from the cable

12
Markets

• Bandwidth exchanges and the other being bandwidth
  brokers
• The massive investments can provide more
  potential capacity than the sum of all existing
  capacity and at substantially lower unit cost
• Build it and they will come

13
Markets cont.

• The United States currently exercises a
  dominating influence over much of international
  communications
• Analysis of the market for bandwidth requires an
  understanding of supply, demand and price and
  their interaction as well as the impact of the
  market structure.
• There is no single market for bandwidth.

14
Markets cont.

• Companies also look at the geographic areas that
  are demanding
• The level of competition in that area will
  influence the level of pricing and therefore the
  supply and demand

15
Markets cont.

• The market for bandwidth is dynamic
• Pricing is difficult, because it varies from
  supplier to supplier and by application, region,
  distance, time of day, volume, and quality

16
Problems

• A main problem for forecasters is that the very
  activity of thinking about the future of new
  products has a natural bias in favor of the
  markets success
• Trying to assess likely developments in the
  communications markets is the particularly
  flowing state of many of the market fundamentals

17
Problems cont.

• Very rapid technological developments
• Products
• Demand conditions
• Major changes in the structure
• Significant regulatory change as competition is
  established

18
Bibliography

• Searching Network. A Search Networking
  Definition. Aug. 2003 http//www.searchnetworkin
  g.techtarget.com/sdefinition0,,sid7_gci211634,00.h
  tml
• Webopedia. Term Bandwidth. Jul. 2003
• http//www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/bandwidth.html
• Zentek. International Bandwidth Information.
  Oct. 2003
• http//www.zentek-international.com/dedicated/ban
  dwidth-information.shtml
• Ensim.com. Reselling Bandwidth. May 1999
• http//www.ensim.com/support/unify/1.0_docs/unify
  10_reserhelp/webhelp/wvh_collection_bandwidth_info
  rmation_for_all_resellers.htm
• Email Interview http//www.cbasolutions.net/bandw
  idth_form.htm (never responded)