Future of backbone looks favourable, but more development needed, delegates told

The demand for bandwidth is growing steadily, but government and industry are slow to respond, experts told a conference in Ottawa recently. All of the participants at a panel of the Canadian Institute of Telecommunications Research extolled the various delivery types, but said more developments are looming. As part of its annual research conference in August, the CITR hosted a discussion entitled Broadband Access: The Last Mile. It brought together five specialists in fibre, wireless and satellite transmission. "Fibre-to-the-home is coming faster than we expect," predicted Bill St-Arnaud, senior director, advanced networks for CANARIE Inc. Carrying voice transmissions is difficult, but costs of the fibre may be reduced if the voice capacity is eliminated, he added. Andrew Deczky, VP and chief scientist with Catena Networks of Kanata ON, agreed, saying operating costs are an important factor in the rollout of fibre. "Voice and data are clearly converging," he told the assembly. Deczky is not as enthusiastic about the use of wireless technology as were some members of his audience. In response to a question from the floor, the Catena executive said copper is still being laid because the amount of spectrum is limited. And of course, demand for fibre is expected to keep growing. St-Arnaud noted that many new housing developments already have fibre to the home while many existing residences will have to be upgraded. The Internet is the only service that requires fibre, he pointed out. Voice transmission can easily be accommodated by fibre or copper wire (while cable uses coax). The basic cost to bring fibre to a neighbourhood is $500 ; the price increases significantly when that fibre is brought to individual homes. One audience member proposed the use of silicon in case fibre runs out — something St-Arnaud said is a relatively easy process. The panelists agreed the type of deployment should not be affected by any particular technology. Professor David Falconer of Carleton University maintained that a high percentage of users will receive their communications via radio waves. "It’s not 100 per cent, but close to it," he said. Jack Rigley, VP of satellite communications research for the Communications Research Centre, foresees satellite penetration reaching a full 100 per cent within five years, the same prediction St-Arnaud made for fibre. As the delivery of the last mile changes, so must the conception of the business model. "The old model was based on monopoly," St-Arnaud noted. "I want to see cooperation evolve among the companies." The government has a critical role to play in furthering development, he added. He compares the expansion of backbone to the growth of the infrastructure of roads and bridges. "The government could build it and then lease it out," he suggested. American deployment, he pointed out, has been financed through the use of municipal bonds while Canada prefers utilizing a consortium. Rigley forecast that within five years satellites would be able to deliver 155 Mbs of bandwidth. Oscar Danieli, the broadband transmission systems architect for Nortel Networks Corp, said cable currently guarantees 500 kbps. This will have to increase, he noted. St-Arnaud said any increase in bandwidth would not be a panacea for users. "I think we’ll have the same problems five years from now as we have now," he asserted. "Most bottlenecks are caused by the server, not the infrastructure."

Future of backbone looks favourable, but more development needed, delegates told

News | September 25, 2000

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