CV_Winter_21

F or the foreseeable future, more and better bandwidth will always be a desired commodity. A worldwide public network connected to millions of home super-computers, in-home telep- resence/AR/VR “rooms,” and home-based 3D rendering mini factories is no longer science fiction. To think otherwise is to risk the shortsightedness of Digital Equipment Corporation founder Ken Olson in 1977 when he proclaimed, “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.” In the nearer term, however, we might be seeing a small blip in consumers’ ever- growing need for more speed. Analysts at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, which openly advocates for current competitive structures over public-private infrastructure investments, points to findings that beg the questions of if consumers will come to multi-gig, ultra-fast broadband services as they are built, and how soon they will be willing to pay for gobs of more bandwidth? Those answers, of course, make no case against the need for our country to build ultra-fast and “future-proof” networks, By Martin Vilaboy BANDWIDTH BLIP U.S. consumers might not yet be ready for multi-gig 24 CHANNEL V ISION | January - February, 2021