Web 2.0 Features Requiring Broadband
Many companies claim that they are “Web 2.0″. But do you know what it really means?
Web 2.0is a brand new concept that sets up certain principles. This article is not aimed at thorough description of the Web 2.0. The purpose is just to show the principles which may be interesting for users, to show why it’s worth using resources sticking to the Web 2.0 concept. The one, which really deserves our mentioning is user positioning. Now the user is concerned as a co-developer, he can control his own data and even influence the site itself. For example, site announces some new feature and asks for a feedback from its users. If they like it, the feature is developed and expanded to the site, if not - it’s immediately removed.
A lot of Internet resources have some kind of database. Some spent a lot of time and money on making researches, analyzing and syndicating of data. Others, who clearly understand the advantages of the Web 2.0 concept, encourage user contribution of data. The more users take part in this the better the service becomes. The better the service becomes the more new users join in. And as long as this process is alive, both users and owners of the resources get benefit.
Users are given the ability to review, explore and change the data. It helps to maintain the data and achieve the greatest results. Some file-hosting sites now use this concept. Users upload their files to the site, post comments and descriptions. Some sites offer catalogues of files with users’ comments and reviews. Moreover, tags can be added to the file, so that it could be easier found. Tagging (choosing keywords) allows some kind of associations that the brain itself uses, instead of strict categories. And as a result, it provides better search results. So again it is a collaborative work of users and site owners that makes the quantity and quality of files up to the mark. Now file-hosting sites become not only the hosting place for files but also the place for enrichment of user experience. Comments help to avoid troubles or show how some bugs can be fixed.
Broadband network capacity:
Our biggest challenge over the last two years has been balancing the need to have a profitable and scalable product proposition whilst delivering good value to our customers. While we’ve been doing this, the use of broadband applications has exploded, yet the wholesale infrastructure that all ISPs work with has not scaled accordingly. In 2006 we saw increasing average usage, driven by faster speeds and more video and music downloads. We envisage that this growth in usage will continue throughout 2007, due to new technologies like Web 2.0 and TV on demand.
When we design any broadband product we plan to provide an amount of network capacity per customer. That drives how much capacity we buy, which in turn drives our costs. To allow for the envisaged growth in usage, we intend to increase the amount of network capacity per customer. We believe that this extra scale will provide an excellent customer experience.
As notified in our customer forums last week, we have now ordered an additional 622Mb/s BT Central pipe, which we expect to be available in March. We intend to activate two segments of this immediately; this means our total capacity will grow by 12.5%. Our estimated timescales are based on the lead times being met by both BT and our network equipment suppliers HughesNet Satellite Internet. Adding additional capacity now will provide us with extra sessions at peak times and gives us further room for growth.
May 2007 should see new BT Wholesale pricing, which will give us the opportunity to review our product designs. We are planning our network strategy with BT which means we will be able to further assure the quality and customer experience of our products.
Late in 2007 and into 2008 will see broadband standardizing on ADSL2+, and therefore average usage continuing to increase. BT’s 21st century network services and Broadband Connect products will come to fruition and we intend to transition across to these from the end of the year. The scale and growth benefits of the BT Retail Internet Network (RIN) will put us in a position to offer our customers the best transition to the 21st Century network.