Bandwith Wars: Internet capacity major theme for 1999 - study
Reuters - Sunday December 6, 3:21 pm Eastern Time
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - With traffic over the Internet doubling
every 100 days, the major theme for the computer, telephone and cable
industries next year will be the need to boost speed and capacity for
information highway cruisers, a technology survey said.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers' ''Technology Forecast: 1999,'' due to be
released Monday, sees demand for bandwidth, or the communications
capacity to quickly and efficiently handle voice, data and video, as
the big technology issue for 1999.
Comparing the movement of data on the Internet to traffic jams on Los
Angeles freeways, technology experts say the biggest challenge for the
industry going into 1999 will be squeezing more traffic through existing
access lanes.
''We're seeing huge plays by the telephone, cable and satellite companies
all struggling to be the bandwidth provider of choice to consumers,''
said Michael Katz, of the professional services firm's global technology
center.
In the last year, the phone and cable industries came to unexpectedly
rapid agreement on standardized equipment for delivering high-speed
Internet connections and set the stage for widespread use of such
services starting next year, he said.
''These providers will be challenged by decreasing prices they can charge
for bandwidth and meeting increasing demand -- and they're hoping that
traffic goes up faster than the prices go down,'' he said.
Continued consolidation in the telecommunications market will lead to
the emergence of four or five global supercarriers by 2002 as well as
up to 4,000 national and regional niche players, the report said.
Bandwidth is also critical to the success of electronic commerce.
''Shopping over the Internet can be frustratingly slow, but increasing
bandwidth can enrich the (online) shopping experience,'' said Katz.
Meanwhile technology will continue to improve as its cost falls.
Increasing competition in the industry will not only force consolidation
but drive prices even lower in 1999.
Consider the personal computer market. A year ago, the introduction of
$1,000 PCs provoked even the non-techie to take a ''byte.'' Now Compaq
(NYSE:CPQ - news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) and other computer makers
have flooded the market with computers for as little as $500 to $600
ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Experts also predict a wave of mergers among suppliers of enterprise
resource planning software, which a growing number of companies are
using to link manufacturing, payroll, customer service and other
operations, both on internal office networks and through suppliers'
networks.
In coming years, the lines between the public Internet and internal
office networks will continue to blur, which promises smoother rides
for business and recreational Web users alike.
More information on the report, the 10th edition of an encyclopedic
survey of the computer and telecommunications industries, can be found
at pwc-tech-forecast.com. (New York Newsdesk--212-859-1700)
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