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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Big Bucks who wrote (17946)	3/20/1998 1:58:00 AM
From: FJB	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

BB, the next major technology will be internet bandwidth enhancement like digital cable modems Our cable company says December. I can't wait. I wonder how this will affect computer use? Personally, I'll have to buy a 10G HD to hold all the software I'm going to download. :-) Maybe SI can install a real-time videoconferenced section? I bet you everyone would be a lot nicer if we could communicate visually also. I can dream can't I? Bob

To: Big Bucks who wrote (17946)	3/21/1998 3:01:00 PM
From: BigShoulders	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

BigBucks re: next major technology involves internet bandwidth I couldn't agree more. Bandwidth seems to be a huge restraint to sales of more powerful PC's to the masses. Thus the lower margined, commodity market we are in now. it seems to me the cable companies have wasted their tremendous advantage they have with coax cable to millions of customers. they thought they had to provide the set top box (modem) and they can't afford it. Now with prodding from Gates they are scrambling to take advbantage of what's been out there for the taking for years. on the other hand, the telco's don't have a wide enough pipe to allow the massive quantity of data to flow fast enough. The telcos have been recently been talking up ADSL (8 million bps) and ADSL lite (1 million bps). But for ADSL they need to bring fiber into the house. For ADSL lite they need to bring fiber to the neighborhood. Almost none of this infrastructure is in place. It seems it will take years and HugeBucks for the telcos to have the answer. The cable companies would appear to have a significant advantage if they could get their act together, and probably some of our BigBucks. Things seem to be moving at a faster pace, but how couldn't it be faster then the last 5 years. We've been mired in 14.4k to 33k land for too long. You know, I would be willing to pay for that cable modem, if I could get the kind of speed that is being promised. Regarding the bandwidth problem and solutions, do you or other threaders have any thoughts or info on - how long its going to take to improve? - to what extent does the hardware needed to solve the problem use semiconductors? Could this be a significant demand for higher margined products? I would think the infrastructure hardware, routers, switches, etc. needed to process and move massive amounts of digital info would involve some high powered semi conductors. Just guessing though. Forgive me if my lack of knowledge about the equipment shows. I'm outside the technology loop, but as a technology user, I see the same problem. Bigshoulders