The future of the Internet will revolve around its ubiquity as IP addresses become embedded in as many as a trillion devices and in ensuring that the digitally illiterate and government service delivery keep pace. They were two of the conclusions from a high-level panel that concluded PTC'11 featuring the architect of President Obama's national broadband plan, Blair Levin, Cisco global technology policy VP Robert Pepper and Google entrepreneur-in-residence Craig Walker.
While the emergence of Ethernet exchanges around the world is arguably one of the hottest trends over the past year or so, they won't be solutions to end all solutions, according to operator members on a panel at PTC'11.
Carrier Ethernet exchanges have become not only a hot topic in the past year, but also a very competitive market. From what was essentially a non-existing market in 2009, there are now several competing to attract carriers to their exchanges.
A panel looking into the crystal ball for international wholesale painted a less than rosy picture where continual price decline is paralleled by explosive growth in demand and costs, but there just might be light at the end of the tunnel.
A panel session at PTC'11 has shed light on how three different organisations in the US are dealing with the challenge of extending broadband to rural and remote populations — but also highlighted additional issues to be considered once the links are in place.
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